Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Review
June 2019
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ..................................................................................... 2
Introduction ................................................................................................. 5
Appendices ................................................................................................. 89
We know from existing data that student achievement in Providence has been low for decades.
Despite the hard work of countless teachers, administrators, and city employees, the latest RICAS
scores show that, across the grade levels, a full 90 percent of students are not proficient in math, and
a full 86 percent are not proficient in English Language Arts.
Creating strong academic outcomes for urban students, many of whom are economically challenged
and speak English as a second language, is a challenge across the United States – not only in
Providence. That said, as our report lays out, our team found unusually deep, systemic dysfunctions
in PPSD’s education system that clearly, and very negatively, impact the opportunities of children in
Providence.
o The great majority of students are not learning on, or even near, grade level.
o With rare exception, teachers are demoralized and feel unsupported.
o Most parents feel shut out of their children’s education.
o Principals find it very difficult to demonstrate leadership.
o Many school buildings are deteriorating across the city, and some are even
dangerous to students’ and teachers’ wellbeing.
Our review work included: interviews and focus groups with parents, school leaders, teachers, and
leaders at all levels; visits to schools across the city; input from a team of independent local and
national education experts; and a review of a broad range of documents and data provided by PPSD
and the Rhode Island Department of Education.
Primary Findings
As you will note in the full report, there are many interrelated challenges across PPSD. All of them
point back to a central, structural deficiency:
The great majority of those we interviewed reported that the system neither worked well nor presented a coherent
vision. They differed only in their explanations and examples. By far the most frequently stated view
was that the system lacks clear delineations of authority, responsibility, and accountability.
The consequences are multiple and seriously detrimental for the students in PPSD:
2. School culture is broken, and safety is a daily concern for students and
teachers. Our review teams encountered many teachers and students who do not feel safe in
school. There is widespread agreement that bullying, demeaning, and even physical
violence are occurring within the school walls at very high levels, particularly at the
middle and high school levels. We were particularly struck by the high incidence of
teacher and student absenteeism, which appears closely linked to school culture and
safety.
4. School leaders are not set up for success. This was a particularly striking finding,
given how influential school leaders can be - even in some of the deeply challenged school systems
in which our Institute has worked. Principals and other school leaders repeatedly
Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy 3
Providence Public School District in Review
June 2019
reported that they are held accountable for results that they have neither resources
nor authority to influence. Almost all of them are demoralized and defensive as a
result. They all referenced the collective bargaining agreement as impeding their
ability to exercise leadership and oversight in their schools. At the same time, we
encountered some judgments and attitudes from individual principals that, based on
what we know about effective schools, do not support higher student outcomes.
These realities run contrary to the necessary components of high-performing systems in the United
States and around the world.
We note one particular success that consistently emerged across all constituencies: Every group
noted the presence of many devoted teachers, principals, and some district leaders who go above
and beyond to support student success. We hope that this core group of leaders and teachers
provides the foundation upon which Rhode Island and Providence can build in the future.
We offer this report as a contribution to what we hope will be a positive and affirming process across
the City of Providence to address the systemic challenges we highlight and to deliver greater
educational opportunities to future generations of students who attend the city’s schools.
To review the academic outcomes of the students enrolled in PPSD, with some comparison
to other districts (See Appendix A for full report).
To visit and observe classrooms in multiple schools, and meet and converse with students,
teachers, administrators, and members of the community (See Appendix B for the schedule).
To hear the views of individuals and groups who hold or have held leadership positions
within the PPSD governance structure, including the Mayor (and former Mayor), the
Superintendent (and former Superintendent), members of the PPSD School Board,
members of the City Council, and a wide variety of professionals involved in the district
offices of PPSD. Most discussions took place face to face, with a few reserved for phone
conversations. For details of the on-site discussions, please see “Final District Site Schedule,”
(Appendix C).
While we scrupulously report what our team heard and observed, it is very important to note that it
was not within our purview to confirm, through further research, the veracity of what we were told
by different leaders and district stakeholders. In some cases, inevitably, they reported on the same
matter very differently (for example, on the success or lack of success of new disciplinary procedures).
Readers may find themselves saying at one point or another, “That’s not what I think is correct” –
but it is what we were told by the identified groups or individuals. There were multiple cases of near
universal agreement across all stakeholders or amongst members of certain groups; readers may wish
to take note of such cases as having a special weight.
Our review was designed to be based upon publicly available academic data and the judgements of
individuals with whom we met. We did not, and do not, intend to make value judgments about
what we found or what we heard; that is up to those who read the relevant sections of this report.1
We did seek consensus from each review team, each member of which has been given the opportunity to
1
On a few subjects, such as per-pupil funding, we included public data to provide context. It is not, however, our role
to comment upon the adequacy of the funding.
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Providence Public School District in Review
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review the relevant sections of this document.2 Where the review teams encountered divergent views
amongst the interviewees, we have noted them as such.3
Some members of leadership groups and individual stakeholders were not interviewed. For instance,
not all members of the City Council were available to meet during the allocated times. To
maximize our availability, we arranged for post-review conference calls for a number of
individuals – especially teachers – who had expressed the wish to be heard but had not had
the opportunity.
We did not visit every school. The school-visit schedule was designed by RIDE. A larger sample
may have produced slightly different findings. This is true of any sampling from a larger
group. We did review the academic results from the selected schools and were satisfied that
there had been no “cherry picking” to guide the team into unrepresentative schools.
We did not include every statement made. The review process must synthesize rather than
transcribe. Consensus thus holds a special weight.
However, the review team made twelve school visits (30% of regular district public schools) and
engaged in multiple, standards-normed classroom observations in each school. Additionally, the
review team conducted interviews and focus groups with parents, almost two hundred teachers (10%
of district teachers), and dozens of students.
The number of schools visited and teachers interviewed was well above the level of sampling required
for statistical significance, and gives us confidence that what we saw and heard was not materially
different than if we had enlarged the sample.
No personal identification is used in this report; individual comments are identified only with their
public positions (as in “member of the School Board” or “school principals”). While our visits to
schools and classrooms were a matter of public record, we have taken care not to link any comments,
particular classrooms, and description of facilities, with any particular school, except when there was
particular praise for a certain school.
The exception on identification applies to individuals who could speak only for themselves, and who
were thus told that their comments would be on the record unless specifically withheld from the
record. Those individuals were the Mayor, the Superintendent, the School Board President, the
former Mayor, and the former Superintendent. In the case of the Superintendent, a brief, off-the-
record conversation was held prior to the formal interview, but nothing from that conversation is
included in this document.
2
The review team members were invited to comment upon the relevant sections and, if they disagreed substantively
with its consensus findings, to compose a minority viewpoint under their own name which would be inserted in the
document. All members of the public have, of course, the ability to respond publicly to the final report.
3
Because we interviewed key stakeholders in groups, one group did not hear what another group had said. Where
strong consensus on a given topic is indicated, it is because similar views were expressed across groups. This does not
indicate that everyone would have endorsed the precise wording.
Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy 6
Providence Public School District in Review
June 2019
The review team conducted classroom observations with the use of the Instructional Practice Guide
(IPG) in math and English Language Arts (ELA), and with the Massachusetts Observation Protocol
in other subjects. The IPG is explicitly aligned to the CCSS (Common Core State Standards) that
form the core of RI’s own standards in math and ELA. (For an overview of the IPG, see here.)
The Institute found a strong level of agreement about the strengths and challenges associated with
the Providence Public School District. Different parties naturally emphasized different elements of
the system, but we did not find fundamental disagreement.
Praise for certain principals, teachers, and district leaders. Every group noted the
presence of devoted teachers and principals who go above and beyond to support student
success. Several groups noted the effectiveness of specific offices within the district, most
notably the Teaching and Learning office.
Four challenges were articulated and observed again and again, across a majority of interviews and
observations:
There is an exceptionally low bar for instruction and low expectations for
students. Very little visible student learning was going on in the majority of classrooms and schools
we visited – most especially in the middle and high schools. Multiple stakeholders emphasized that
the state, district, and business community have very low expectations for student learning.
Many district team members and community partners broke down in tears when describing
this reality, which classroom observations verified.
School culture is broken – particularly in secondary schools. Our review teams
encountered many teachers and students who do not feel safe in school. There is widespread
agreement that bullying, demeaning, and even physical violence are occurring within the
school walls at very high levels. Many participants cited the pressure to reduce suspensions
as a causal factor.
Student support is insufficient. The review teams encountered meaningful gaps in student
support. These gaps ranged from too few English Language Learner (ELL) -certified teachers
and special education staff, to widespread difficulties recruiting substitute teachers that leaves
students without subject-matter experts. The consequences for student learning are
evidenced in publicly available academic outcomes.
Governance comes from multiple individuals and institutions, with
overlapping responsibilities. Vision suffers as a result. Very few participants thought
the system worked well or posed a coherent vision. They differed only in their explanations and
remedies. While there was some finger pointing at individuals, by far the most frequently
We explore each strength and weakness as they pertain to specific school visits and interviews.
Because we know from international research that a strong school culture and a robust academic
curriculum are signatures of high-performing systems, we begin with teaching and learning, and the
context in which they occur - or don’t. Student learning and wellbeing are at the core of an education
system: the report that follows thus focuses strongly on these elements.
4
It is important to note that there were a small number of dissenters from one or more of these judgments. A member
of the school board stated: “It’s not the money.” On another topic, a member of the school board stated “I have heard
people say that “we have had this influx of ELL students into the district” and I respectfully disagree; we have had
diversity since forever; these folks have been here the entire time; we have failed to provide them the supports they
need; the system has always failed.”
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Providence Public School District in Review
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Assessment of Academic Outcomes
We believe it is important to place the following report into the context of Providence Public Schools
Department. While the charts and text below are only high-level indicators, they do constitute an
important snapshot of the district.
Source: https://reportcard.ride.ri.gov/DistrictSnapshot?DistCode=28
The Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy (the Institute) analyzed test score data for students
in Providence, Rhode Island and two other comparison districts (Newark City, New Jersey and
Worcester, Massachusetts). The Institute also examined comparative data for the state of Rhode
Island as a whole to place Providence into context within the state. The analyses presented here
focus on students in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 in English Language Arts and grades 3, 5, 8, and algebra
in mathematics during the school years of 2014-15 through 2017-18.
There are a few pieces of information that should be noted here and kept in mind. First, Rhode
Island switched from the PARCC assessment to the RICAS assessment beginning in the 2017-18
school year. This makes comparisons over time more difficult to judge. Second, in the 2016-17
school year, 10th grade students in Providence did not complete the PARCC ELA assessment. Third,
the new RICAS assessment does not include assessments for students beyond 8th grade. Instead,
assessment results for high school are pulled from existing tests – the PSAT and SAT – to meet
testing requirements. The RICAS assessment was put in place in an effort to reduce the amount of
time spent testing in class and to ideally help relieve some of the burden on teachers. The test itself
pulls items both from PARCC and MCAS, which is the Massachusetts state assessment.
The Institute began the analysis of achievement data with a focus on the district of Providence. We
identified changes in rates of proficiency as students progress through school as wells as changes in
proficiency rates over time for both math and ELA.
Below, figure 1 presents the changes in proficiency rates by grade level from the 2017-18 school year
when students completed the RICAS assessment. One of the first points to highlight is that every grade
exhibited proficiency rates lower than 20% in both math and ELA – fewer than one out of every five students.
Proficiency rates in ELA were slightly higher than math in all grades, but not by much. Second, the
trendlines indicate a fairly steep decline in rates of proficiency between 3rd grade and 8th grade. For
example, in 3rd grade math, just over 17% of students achieved proficiency while just only slightly
more than 6% of 8th grade students achieved proficiency in math. This brings up a final point to
emphasize: there is a sizeable and noticeable dropoff in proficiency rates in the 8th grade in both
math and ELA.
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3rd 5th 8th
This drop-off is not unique to RICAS and the 2017-18 school year. In every year since the 2014-15
school year, 8th grade students achieve proficiency at lower rates than 3rd and 5th graders as shown in
figure 2. Not only that, but there was only one grade in one year in which students reached
proficiency rates greater than 25% - 3rd grade students in the 2016-17 school year.
Math ELA
Providence Comparisons
Due to the change from the PARCC to RICAS just prior to the 2017-18 school year, it was necessary
to identify multiple sites with which to compare Providence. First, Providence is compared to
Newark City – which also administered the PARCC assessment during these years – for school years
2014-15 through 2016-17. For the 2017-18 school year, Providence is compared to Worcester, which
administered the MCAS – a test comparable to the RICAS assessment. The state of Rhode Island is
present throughout. Newark serves as an appropriate pre-RICAS comparison because of a relatively
similar size and some demographic similarities as Providence. The same can be said of Worcester as
a RICAS comparison site. Table 1 below shows a breakdown of key demographic statistics for each
of the comparison sites. Note that no two districts are the same: The Institute did not expect to find
identical matches for PPSD, but rather chose to identify sites for which certain sub-populations were relatively
comparable in each of the identified categories below. In general, we think the most indicative comparative
results are the trend lines across years and grade-level results, rather than the absolute outcomes,
although these are clearly important in their own right as representing the academic achievement of
PPSD students.
1. Students in Providence achieve proficiency at very low rates (only 3rd graders in 2016-17
reached a proficiency rate of greater than 25%) and 8th grade performance has consistently
been lower than other grades over time.
2. Providence schools exhibited lower test scores in both ELA and math across all grades when
compared to the state of Rhode Island. This was the case both pre- and post-RICAS.
3. Providence schools scored lower than comparable districts (Newark City and Worcester) in
both ELA and math in all grades across all years examined.
4. While most grades in Providence saw relatively stable proficiency rates over time in ELA, 8th
grade appears to be an especially difficult time as proficiency rates steadily decreased over
time.
5. 8th grade also appears to be a particularly difficult time for students in mathematics, as this
was the grade with lowest proficiency rates in Providence over each of the four years.
Analysis
In absolute and comparative terms (when compared to the state and to two cities with sub-groups
that include elements present in PPSD: Newark, NJ, and Worcester, MA), the proficiency rates of
PPSD students start low and decline in middle and high school.
In English Language Arts (ELA), for instance, students’ proficiency rates were on par with Newark,
NJ in third grade. By 5th grade, the gap between Newark and Providence became more pronounced.
In eighth grade, the gap widened still further: Providence students’ proficiency dropped from 18.7%
in fifth grade to only 8.5% in eighth, and by 2017, the gap between Providence and Newark in 8th grade
was greater than 22 percentage points. Interestingly, the achievement gaps between these two districts
has grown each year, and in each grade.
Newark Providence
Rhode Island Trend (Newark)
Trend (Providence) Trend (Rhode Island)
*Rhode Island and Providence used the RICAS assessment in 2017-18, while Newark used the PARCC
Figure 3 above presents the trendlines for ELA in Newark, Providence, and Rhode Island over the
past four years. It is clear that Providence is well below both Newark and the state of Rhode Island;
only Newark presents a positive overall trend in ELA. However, the negative trend in Providence is
steeper, indicating that students are declining more quickly there than they are in the state of Rhode
Island as a whole.
One positive development is an uptick in 8th-grade math in 2018. The result, however, is still the
lowest of the 3-8th grade math assessments, and even with this slight uptick, more than 93% of the 8th-
graders in Providence were not proficient in mathematics. Furthermore, students in Providence continue
to achieve proficiency at substantially lower rates than do their peers in Worcerster and across the
state of Rhode Island. These struggles are evident in every grade examined.
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3rd 5th 8th
*Note: The RICAS assessment did not include an algebra test in 8 th grade
To provide historical context for Providence schools, the Institute examined the PARCC scores in
grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 in English Language Arts (ELA). Proficiency rates were compared to those of
students in Newark City, New Jersey and the full state of Rhode Island.
Figure 5. PARCC ELA Proficiencies by Grade, All Students, Averaged Across 2015-2017
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*Note: 10th grade ELA data was not available for Rhode Island in 2017
Figure 5 above presents the results of the analysis. Proficiency rates have been averaged across each
of the three years from 2014-15 to 2016-17 to provide an overall look at how students performed.
As shown, Providence schools scored lower than Rhode Island as a state in every grade. Additionally
they scored lower than Newark schools in all grades except 10th, when they were nearly equivalent.
Keep in mind that 10th grade scores in Providence include only the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school
years as there was no 10th grade test in 2016-17. In Providence, 8th grade ELA exhibited the lowest
proficiency rates, averaging only about 17% proficiency. This is 20 percentage points lower than
Rhode Island, and almost 15 percentage points lower than Newark. In no grade in Providence did
more than 25% of students achieve proficiency.
Figure 6 below presents the comparison results for student proficiency rates on the 2017-18
RICAS/MCAS assessments. In Providence, students in grades 3 and 5 exhibited similar rates of
proficiency (18.6% and 18.7%, respectively) as they did on the PARCC assessment. However, there
was a severe decrease in proficiency for 8th grade students as proficiency rates dropped from 18.7%
in 5th grade to only 8.5% in 8th grade. This was nearly 22 percentage points lower than the state of
Rhode Island and 24.5 percentage points lower than Worcester. 8th grade proficiency rates were
the lowest in each site, but those in Providence were by far the lowest. While students in 3rd and
5th grades in Providence did score proficient rates similar to what they had scored on PARCC, these
rates were still substantially lower than those across the state of Rhode Island and in Worcester.
*Note: Rhode Island switched from the PARCC to the RICAS assessment beginning in the 2017-18 school year. 10th grade students
did not complete the participate assessment. RICAS is comparable to the MCAS assessment in Massachusetts
The Institute next explored how proficiency rates changed over time. Figure 7 presents these changes
by grade. In examining the panels below, keep in mind that Newark, Providence and Rhode Island
PARCC data is presented for 2014-15 through 2016-17, while Worcester, Providence, and Rhode
Island MCAS/RICAS data is presented for the 2017-18 school year. Each panel contains a single
grade with the proficiency rates for each site in a given year. In Providence, the proficiency rates
across all four years remained relatively stable in both 3rd and 5th grades. In 3rd grade, the proficiency
rates were relatively similar to those in Newark in each year. By 5th grade, the gap between Newark
and Providence became a bit more pronounced. In 8th grade, this gap was quite substantial.
Interestingly, the gap between these two sites grew over time in each grade. By 2017, the gap between
Providence and Newark in 8th grade was greater than 22 percentage points. Another interesting
point about the 8th grade proficiency rates is that they steadily decreased over time, and reached a
low of only 8.5% proficiency in 2018. It is difficult to make any conclusions for the high school
proficiency rates as there were only two years of data for Providence and the state of Rhode Island.
However, the proficiency rates for each of the comparison sites were much more closely clustered
and there were no longer the substantial gaps as seen in earlier grades.
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2015 2016 2017 2018 2015 2016 2017 2018
Newark Providence Rhode Island Worcester Newark Providence Rhode Island Worcester
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10 10
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2015 2016 2017 2018 2015 2016 2017
*Note: Rhode Island did not include scores for 10th grade in 2017 and high school students were not tested with RICAS in 2018
The Institute’s subgroup analyses focus on the differences between Worcester and Providence.
Subgroups of interest include students in the following groups: Black, Hispanic, economically
disadvantaged, limited English proficiency, and special education. Test scores from Worcester are
from the MCAS assessment and test scores from Providence are from the RICAS assessment. These
assessments are comparable in interpretation of their scores.
The Institute first turned to an examination of differences across the two sites by race/ethnicity.
Figure 8 below presents these findings. The first point to highlight is that students in Providence,
regardless of race/ethnicity, were proficient at substantially lower rates than their Worcester
counterparts. While White students in Providence achieved proficiency at approximately the same
rate across grade levels, Black and Hispanic students were substantially less likely to reach proficiency
in 8th grade (only 6.5% of Black students and 5.9% of Hispanic students) than they were in either
elementary grade. The most glaring difference between Providence and Worcester is in the 8th grade,
where Black students in Providence had proficiency rates nearly 27 percentage points lower than
Providence Worcester
A similar pattern emerged for economically disadvantaged students. As shown below in Figure 9,
economically disadvantaged students experienced decreasing rates of proficiency as they
progressed through school, with a low of only 6.2% proficiency by the 8th grade. As with
race/ethnicity, all groups of students in Providence – regardless of economic disadvantage – reached
proficiency at substantially lower rates than their peers in Worcester. These differences peaked in 8th
grade at which point economically disadvantaged students in Providence reached proficiency at a
rate nearly 16 percentage points lower than those in Worcester, and non-economically disadvantaged
students in Providence (21.1% proficiency) in 8th grade reached proficiency at a rate nearly 19
percentage points lower than Worcester. Furthermore, there was a very evident gap between
economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged students that peaked in 5th grade
(15.1 percentage point difference) and remained quite large in the 8th grade (14.9 percentage point
difference). This gap was also evident in Worcester, but economically disadvantaged students
reached proficiency at higher rates than their Providence peers in every grade.
Providence Worcester
Due to data limitations, it was difficult to draw strong conclusions from the analysis focusing on
Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students. First, Worcester did not report proficiency rates for non-
LEP students. This made comparisons with Providence non-LEP students impossible. Second, with
the 2017-18 RICAS implementation, Providence also implemented a practice of not reporting
proficiency rates for subgroups for which fewer than 5% of the population achieved proficiency, as
was the case for LEP students in both the 5th and 8th grades. With these caveats in mind, there are a
few conclusions to highlight which are observable in figure 10. First, there again appeared to be a
significant decline in proficiency rates in Providence in the 8th grade for all students. Second, the
largest gap in Providence between LEP and non-LEP students was in the 5th grade, considering fewer
than 5% of LEP students were proficient at that time. Finally, there was a substantial gap in the 3 rd
grade between LEP students in Providence and LEP students in Worcester. In fact, 3rd grade LEP
students in Worcester achieved proficiency at a rate only 4 percentage points lower than 3rd grade
non-LEP students in Providence.
Providence Worcester
*Data not reported for subgroups with lower than 5% proficiency rates
**Worcester did not report proficiency rates for non-LEP students
The final subgroup of interest was students with disabilities. There was again the issue that
Providence did not report proficiency rates in cases where less than 5% of the subgroup achieved
proficiency, as was the case in the 5th and 8th grades. As shown in figure 11 below, students receiving
Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy 20
Providence Public School District in Review
June 2019
special education services performed substantially worse than their non-speical education peers in
both sites in every grade. The differences in proficiency rates of special education students between
Providence and Worcester were not very stark as they were extremely low in both locations. The
biggest gap within Providence existed in the 5th grade, at which time 21.8% of non-special
education students achieved proficiency while fewer than 5% of special education students were
able to do so.
Figure 11. ELA Proficiency Rates by Special Education Status, by Grade, 2017-18
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3rd 3rd 5th 5th* 8th 8th*
Non-Sp Ed Sp Ed Non-Sp Ed Sp Ed Non-Sp Ed Sp Ed
Providence Worcester
*Data not reported for subgroups with lower than 5% proficiency rates
As with ELA, the Institute examined the historical patterns of performance in mathematics in
Providence. The Institute included the same time frames (PARCC for the years 2014-15 through
2016-17, and MCAS/RICAS in 2017-18) and locations (Newark, Providence, and Rhode Island for
PARCC, and Worcester, Providence, and Rhode Island for MCAS/RICAS) as the ELA analyses.
Using PARCC data, algebra proficiency rates were identified. These rates included students in grades
ranging from 8th to 12th. As with ELA, the Institute first explored the averaged PARCC scores (figure
12) followed by the one existing year of MCAS/RICAS scores (figure 13).
Looking at figure 12 below, there are a number of trends to mention. First, Providence exhibited
lower proficiency rates than both Newark and the state of Rhode Island across each grade. Second,
in each location, students steadily decreased in proficiency rates from 3rd grade to 8th grade, and then
experienced a jump in proficiency rates in algebra. As in ELA, 8th grade students in Providence
achieved proficiency at very low rates. Only 5% of Providence 8th graders were proficient in math,
which is by far the lowest of any grade in Providence. This is 16.3 percentage points lower than 8th
graders in Newark and represents the largest gap in any grade between Providence and Newark.
Interestingly, the largest gap between Providence and the rest of Rhode Island existed in 3 rd grade
Figure 12. PARCC Math Proficiencies by Grade, All Students, Averaged Across 2015-2017
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3rd 5th 8th Algebra
Prior to discussing the comparisons with Worcester, it is again important to point out that students
in Providence and the rest of Rhode Island did not take RICAS tests in high school or for the specific
subject of algebra. However, the comparisons with the MCAS assessment remain valid as the tests
are very similar. Turning now to the analysis of the comparison with Worcester in the 2017-18 school
year, the patterns are nearly identical to those mentioned above in the comparison with Newark.
Figure 13 shows steadily decreasing proficiency rates in each site across the three grades, with 8th
grade proficiency rates the lowest in each location. Again, the 8th grade proficiency rates in
Providence at 6.4% were by far the lowest, and were substantially lower than both Worcester (16.5
percentage point difference) and the state of Rhode Island (16.4 percentage point difference). The
largest gap with Worcester, however, was in 5th grade, when students in Providence (11.5%
proficient) achieved proficiency rates nearly 18 percentage points lower. The largest gap with the rest
of Rhode Island was observed in the 3rd grade when 17.2% of students in Providence met proficiency
and 35.4% of students in Rhode Island met proficiency.
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*Note: The RICAS assessment did not include an algebra test in either 8 th grade or high school
Figure 14. Math Proficiency Rates Over Time, by Grade, PARCC (2014-15 to 2016-17) and
MCAS/RICAS (2017-18).
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2015 2016 2017 2018 2015 2016 2017 2018
Newark Providence Rhode Island Worcester Newark Providence Rhode Island Worcester
The Institute limited the subgroup analyses to the 2017-18 school year to take advantage of the most
recent data and to focus on the assessment in use in Providence – the RICAS. We again focused on
a comparison with Worcester, MA which used the MCAS assessment – the test upon which the
RICAS was modeled – in that year.
Figure 15 highlights the differences between Providence and Worcester as broken out by
race/ethnicity and grade. In each grade, Black and Hispanic students reached proficiency at
substantially lower rates than did White students in both Providence and Worcester. Also in each
grade, students in Providence performed noticeably worse than students in Worcester. Some of the
most drastic differences were for White students, where the gap between Providence (21.9%
proficient) and Worcester (41% proficient) peaked in the 5th grade. Within Providence, the gap
between White students and both Black and Hispanic students was most glaring in the 8th grade.
White students achieved proficiency at 26.4%, while both Black and Hispanic students did not
meet the 5% proficiency threshold. 8th grade also represented the largest gap between Black students
in Providence (< 5% proficiency) and Black students in Worcester (20% proficiency). A final point
to highlight is that proficiency rates for Black and Hispanic students in Providence steadily decreased
by grade, with the low-point observed in the 8th grade.
Providence Worcester
*Data not reported for subgroups with lower than 5% proficiency rates
The next set of analyses focused on economic disadvantage status. Figure 16 presents the comparison
for students in Providence and Worcester who were and were not identified as economically
disadvantaged. The first point to note is that once again, 8th grade had the lowest proficiency rates
for all groups. Second, students in Providence consistently performed lower than students in
Worcester. Additionally, there was a larger gap between non-economically disadvantaged students
across the two sites than between economically disadvantaged students. The gap between non-
economically disadvantaged students in Providence and Worcester was as large as 25.5 percentage
Providence Worcester
*Data not reported for subgroups with lower than 5% proficiency rates
As in our ELA analysis, it was difficult to make specific conclusions for LEP status students because
Worcester did not report non-LEP student proficiency rates and Providence did not report observed
rates for subgroups with lower than 5% proficiency. However, it was possible to identify clear
existence of gaps between LEP and non-LEP students in Providence. Figure 17 below presents the
comparisons. The gap between LEP and non-LEP students in Providence was the largest in 5th grade.
Regarding LEP students in Providence, in no year did their proficiency rates exceed 13%, and in
both 5th grade and 8th grade, their proficiency rates were sub-5%.
20
15
10
0
3rd 3rd 5th 5th* 8th 8th*
Non-LEP** LEP Non-LEP LEP Non-LEP LEP
Providence Worcester
*Data not reported for subgroups with lower than 5% proficiency rates
**Worcester did not report proficiency rates for non-LEP students
5
It is not possible to determine the exact gap in 8th grade, but a 15 percentage point gap would imply a proficiency rate
of approximately 3.5% for economically disadvantaged students.
Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy 25
Providence Public School District in Review
June 2019
The final analysis explored differences between Providence and Worcester by special education
status. Figure 18 highlights the results of this analysis. The most notable gaps between Providence
and Worcester were evident for students not receiving special education services. In 5 th grade, this
gap was as large as 23 percentage points. Students receiving special education services did not surpass
9% proficiency in any grade in either Providence or Worcester. In Providence these proficiency rates
were under 5% in both 5th grade and 8th grade. Though it was not possible to identify the exact gap
between special education and non-special education students every year in Providence, it is
possible to state that all students had very low proficiency rates and that (as is generally the case)
special education students consistently performed worse than non-special education students in
every grade.
Figure 18. Math Proficiency Rates by Special Education Status, by Grade, 2017-18
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
3rd 3rd 5th 5th* 8th 8th*
Non-Sp Ed Sp Ed Non-Sp Ed Sp Ed Non-Sp Ed Sp Ed
Providence Worcester
*Data not reported for subgroups with lower than 5% proficiency rates
Summary
The review teams visited four elementary, four middle, and four high schools. Because middle
schools were divided between the two teams, we include findings from middle schools with their
respective teams.
The review team for elementary (and some middle) schools was comprised of the following members:
Tracy Lafreniere, North Smithfield, Reading Specialist (and RI 2016 Teacher of the Year)
Karla Vigil, EduLeaders of Color, Co-Founder and Chief Connector, District and School
Design & Senior Associate at the Center for Collaborative Education
Jeremy Sencer, Math Specialist PPSD
Sarah Friedman, The Learning Community, School Co-Director
Michelle Davidson, Parent Advocate and Community Member
Crystal Spring, Johns Hopkins University Research Fellow
The review team for elementary (and some middle) school interviews and focus groups:
Dr. Barbara Mullen, Center for Leadership and Educational Equity, Director – Learning
Leader Network and former Special Education Director for Houston Independent School
District
Phil DeCecco, Retired Providence School Counselor
Dr. Angela Watson, Johns Hopkins University, OR Mr. Al Passarella, Johns Hopkins
University
The review team for high school (and some middle school) classrooms was comprised of:
Dr. Heather Hill, Annenberg Institute at Brown University, Professor
Paige Clausius Parks, M.Ed., Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, Senior Policy Analyst
Victor Capellan, Central Falls School District, Superintendent
Nikos Giannopoulos, Beacon Charter School, Educator and Rhode Island 2017 Teacher of
the Year
Ramona Santos, Providence Public School Parent
Kelly Siegel-Stechler, Johns Hopkins University
In every school, the review team observed classrooms and conducted focus groups and interviews
with administrators, teachers, and students.
School visits included classroom observations, and interviews and focus groups with students,
teachers, and administrators.
The review team noted that, in every school, students and teachers named specific individuals who
cared about the wellbeing and academic progress of students. Additionally, many schools have put
new plans in place to bolster students’ social and emotional learning. One school in particular was
nicely appointed and friendly.
However, the review team observed, and interviewees validated, the following high-level concerns:
Elementary Schools
The instructional rigor is too low. In the majority of classrooms, students were
insufficiently challenged. Since classroom-level instruction is a key determinant of students’
short- and long-term success, we focus this report first and foremost here.
The school culture needs attention. In the schools visited by the review team, the
morale of teachers and administrators was low. We heard about and witnessed inappropriate
behavior on the part of adults and bullying and physical fighting on the part of students.
Facilities. In all but one of the schools, the buildings were in very poor – and in one,
absolutely dire - condition. In some cases, the facilities clearly disrupted learning and possibly
students’ health.
Classroom visits included an analysis using the Instructional Practice Guide, a college- and career-
readiness, standards-aligned observational rubric created by Student Achievement Partners. The IPG
defines a list of observable classroom practices, which are themselves comprised of key indicators
that reflect instruction that aligns with standards and maximizes students’ learning.
Elementary ELA. English Language Arts classrooms showed an overall lack of instructional rigor.
While approximately two-thirds of observed texts were at an appropriate level, only about half of
them met the quality standard for exhibiting craft, thought, or information to build knowledge.
Most of the teachers’ questions were impressionistic and general rather than specific. There were
only two classrooms in which there appeared to be a clear focus upon students’ drawing evidence
from the text and upon language and other text elements. While most teachers attended to
vocabulary, this was often in a simplistic or rote way. When the curricular materials (worksheets,
texts) were of higher quality, we found a greater chance of teachers’ asking students to use evidence
and attend to the qualitative nature of the text. In one school, we saw virtually no authentic reading,
but only worksheets.
Student engagement was wanting. In only two classrooms did instruction focus on students’ doing
the majority of the work, and in many cases, students appeared eager to participate but were not
given meaningful chances to do so. We observed no classroom in which there was genuine
“productive struggle,” in which students are called upon to grapple with, and persist through,
challenging skills or concepts. As indicated above, students were not pressed to look for evidence in
the texts, and there were almost no opportunities observed for students to engage with one another
in meaningful ways. Another important feature of a standards-aligned classroom is teachers’
“checking for understanding,” which in the classrooms we visited seemed largely rote and did not
lead to any observed change in instruction or meaningful feedback. Finally, students were given
infrequent opportunities to strengthen or develop foundational language skills.
Elementary Math. The math classrooms were generally higher-performing than the ELA, although
they too showed varying degrees of effectiveness. In one school, for instance, two classrooms focused
primarily on rote computational work and provided no opportunities for student input or
meaningful engagement. The other two lessons were stronger overall, but did not provide
opportunities for meaningful challenge and productive struggle. Thus, even where instruction is
otherwise strong, students did not tend to engage with one another’s ideas or mathematical
reasoning.
For the classroom observation summaries below, the order of the schools has been randomized –
thus it does not correspond to the order in which they were visited - to protect their identity.
Observations about the physical conditions seen in the schools have been removed and collected
elsewhere in the report, also to protect the schools’ identities.
Secondary Math, summarized by Dr. Heather Hill. In Providence, middle and high school math
consists largely of teacher-directed instruction about mathematical facts and procedures. Although
some teachers involved students in Common Core-aligned activities (e.g., productive struggle,
engagement with rich tasks, and mathematical reasoning), such activity was rare, limited to two or
three mathematics classrooms of the 35 observed by the review team. Even in most upper-level
mathematics classes, students experienced the material as teacher-led instruction, with the teacher
providing guidance about how students could execute a set of procedures in order to complete their
assignments.
In a large number of classrooms, teachers did not press students to become engaged with the
mathematics instruction, resulting in a variety of student off-task behavior: chatting with peers,
checking phones, staring into space, or, in some cases, taking phone calls and watching YouTube
videos. In some classrooms, this activity was loud enough to disrupt the learning of other students
and, in some cases, led to student arguments that left the team concerned for student safety. In many
classrooms, this activity went on for the duration of the observation. This occurred without
substantial teacher attempts to redirect students toward engaging with the mathematics. In one
school, in fact, some teachers arranged their classrooms such that the non-engaged students were
sitting around the periphery (often with desks turned so that they were staring at a wall), while a
small number of desks in the middle allowed on-task students to be closer to the teacher. In other
classrooms, disengaged students sat near the back of the room.
To be clear, not all students were off-task; in each of the classrooms described just above, a number
of students were taking notes and working diligently on practice problems. In a small number of
advanced math classes, students were engaged in projects involving complex mathematical modeling
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Providence Public School District in Review
June 2019
and application. However, we estimate that among observed classrooms on average, about one-third
to one-half of students were off-task, with no teacher attempt to reach out and re-engage.
When mathematics was delivered to students, it was nearly always free of major teacher mathematical
errors, though sometimes lacked the clarity that would support student learning. An example of the
latter occurred when one teacher lost his place in solving a problem involving interest paid on a
vehicle, and thus provided an ultimately confusing sequence of calculations for solving the problem.
In another case, a teacher discussed vertical angles, then started working on a coordinate plane,
labeling the y axis y=-1/2x+5 and the x-axis y=2x+3, then telling students to find the point of
intersection. This teacher also confused the terms “expression” and “equation.” On occasion, the
rule-based nature of instruction seemed likely to confuse students in their future learning. For
instance, during a lesson on expressions, a teacher instructed students “to simplify” if they saw
expressions with the same variable (3n + 3n) but to factor if they saw an expression with different
variables (e.g., 21y + 15x). Students presented with problems that challenge this rule (3n + 3n2; 3y +
5x) would likely be confused.
Most content taught in the middle schools met grade-level standards. However, in the high schools
visited, some of the content was behind grade level – either for the time in the year (i.e., factoring
in late May during an Algebra 1 class) or in topic (e.g., simple interest rates).
Many classes this team attempted to visit were staffed by subs, aides, other teachers in the
department, or had been disbanded for the day, with students sent to other rooms to wait out the
class period. In general, students did not work on mathematics in classrooms covered by subs, aides,
or when sent to sit in other classrooms; when other members of the department covered the missing
teacher’s classroom, some student work did take place.
Many classrooms had aides, either attached to a specific student or acting as a second pair of hands
in the classroom. Use of aides was uneven. In two schools, we observed aides very actively engaged
in delivering (or redelivering) instruction to students, or providing 1:1 assistance. In other schools,
aides were engaged in what seemed like busywork -- e.g., checking the completeness of a social studies
assignment on their computer – or were otherwise unengaged with students.
Often, the faculty/classroom lists provided by the administration at the beginning of the day were
inaccurate. In two cases, teachers listed on the schedule had actually left the school.
Finally, we witnessed significant problems in the use of the Summit Learning Platform. In one
school, Summit was the major mode of mathematics instruction; in other classrooms, it seemed to
be used for supplemental (e.g., remedial or practice) instruction.
When we observed students using Summit, they were not engaged with the software in optimal ways.
Instead of watching videos or reading tutorial texts, students went straight to the exam and attempted
to answer questions. When they answered incorrectly, corrective text popped up, which students did
read; they then tried again with the next question. Even if students progressed according to plan,
their learning would be limited to how to answer problems in the format presented by the Summit
Off-task student behavior was the same as, or worse than, in the more traditional classrooms, with
some students observably working on assignments from other classes, viewing YouTube videos (or
similar), queuing songs on playlists, toggling between Summit and entertainment websites, or
pausing on work screens while chatting with neighbors.
To paint a picture of one Summit classroom at a given moment during our visit: Four students were
working on history, one student stalled on an index screen, one stalled on a choice screen, one
focused on a screen with other (non-math) content, two doing mathematics well below grade-level
work, and two doing mathematics at, or close to, grade level. There was an aide in this room, but he
did not interact with kids. One team member asked him what his role was, and he said, “Supporting
students, I’m an ELL teacher.” He did not speak Spanish, however (which many kids were doing),
and he did not have content expertise. He explained that his role is not to teach language, but only
to offer support—he can “break down” problems well for students. When asked what he was doing
in that moment, he said he was marking PPT projects (for another class) as “complete” or
“incomplete.”
For the classroom observation summaries below, the order of the schools has been randomized –
thus it does not correspond to the order in which they were visited - to protect their identity.
Observations about the physical conditions seen in the schools have been removed and collected
elsewhere in the report, also to protect the schools’ identities.
School A
Positives
Teachers generally had good energy but a wide range of classroom management skills. The
most effective classroom management strategy on offer seemed to be “educational” games on
computers.
Some Kindergarten classrooms included play-based learning. (Other Kindergartens were
doing straight worksheets.)
Challenges
Curriculum and Instruction:
o ELA classrooms displayed Reading Street, but this curriculum was in use in only one
out of six observations.
o There was almost no authentic reading in ELA: just isolated skill work (e.g.,
categorizing adjectives).
School B
Positives
Several teachers led whole-group instruction effectively.
Challenges
Generally low academic rigor.
Very little authentic reading in ELA.
The rigorous instruction we witnessed was done in small groups, while the rest of the class
was on computers playing questionable games.
Some teachers’ tones were disrespectful of children.
Inadequate substitute teachers meant that students were split up all over the school.
o Example: Because a teacher was on jury duty, one 5th-grader came into a kindergarten
classroom to work all day independently.
School C
Positives
Some positive connections between teachers and students. Seems like a safe space for
students
Many caring adults in building but there didn’t seem to be cohesive support.
Challenges
Very few opportunities for student ownership of work.
No coherent ELA curriculum. There was a different textbook in every classroom, even within
grades.
Low academic rigor was ubiquitous. The math was all algorithmic with little attempt to
support conceptual understanding.
The attitude and demeanor of most teachers was fatigued and defeated.
Students’ depth of knowledge and engagement in academic work was on the lower end of
the scale.
There was heavy technology use in all grades (including K and 1), and it was largely
unsupervised and with questionable educational content.
Teachers’ interaction with students seemed quite often to be not culturally responsive. We
witnessed policing of bodies and a preoccupation with manners.
The substitute teacher issue was serious in this school; the inclusion classrooms were over-
ratio and sometimes only had one teacher.
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Providence Public School District in Review
June 2019
School D
Positives
Teachers were enthusiastic and willing to form relationships with students.
The climate was positive, calm, and supportive.
Every classroom seemed to have an essential question posted.
Challenges
The Summit platform (personalized learning) did not seem to be serving students’ needs.
The content was low-rigor (6th graders spent a lot of time defining the word community, for
example). Students did not have time to interact with one another or with teachers. Teachers
interacted with one student at a time, and students became off-task for long periods of time.
The team witnessed new teachers who could benefit from coaching.
While many teachers across the board seemed to respect students, their teaching often lacked
instructional depth nor did they challenge students adequately.
The number of students in classrooms varied widely (as low as 12, as many as 23).
There were zero manipulatives used in math classes.
The substitute teacher issue was obvious in this school, as well.
School E
Positives - No Substantial Challenges
The building and classrooms were in top condition. The paint seemed recent, and we saw a
maintenance person on duty.
The classrooms were huge, which facilitated the success of small groups.
Instruction and classroom management were of high quality across the board. Teachers were
enthusiastic, caring, and used best practices.
Some classrooms seemed to be using blended learning successfully with high student
engagement and teacher monitoring.
The culture supported students’ talking to each other about their learning. They often
referred to posted anchor charts about behavioral/learning norms.
School F
Positives
Teachers had a pleasant and friendly tone towards students (only one notable exception).
Many teachers introduced themselves to our team and expressed interest in conversing about
the learning taking place in the room.
The teachers seem to enjoy teaching at this school and working hard. There were many adults
in the hallways for transitions.
School G
Successes
There were a few strong classrooms with good routines, engagement, integration across the
subjects, and culturally responsive teaching - including a science and a French classroom.
ELA instruction did in some cases ask students to think critically and develop skills such as
persuasion. Some ELA classes were using online learning (StudySync), and the quality
appeared to be relatively strong. Questions were open ended and students were actively
writing.
Challenges
The review team found large inequities between academically advanced and general
classrooms, especially integration classrooms.
Across the board, students were compliant but unengaged. Most instruction was rote, and it
was not standards-aligned.
In inclusion classrooms, teachers used dismissive language and avoided engaging with the
included students.
Math instruction was organized but largely procedural in nature. Students were called upon
to give answers or describe procedures, but were not given opportunities to discuss ideas or
think about math in a complex way.
Some portion of students in each classroom was disengaged or disruptive, and there were
some students who openly defied teachers with no apparent consequences.
Bullying seemed to be an issue for students, and sometimes fights, especially on Fridays.
School H
Successes
The school environment was clean, bright, and orderly. Student artwork and cultural
representations lined the hallways. Teachers reported feeling like the school is a family – the
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Providence Public School District in Review
June 2019
staff care about, support, and enjoy camaraderie with one another. The school felt safe and
everyone seems calm and relaxed, and speak with pride about the school.
A few of the classes were engaging and interactive. These tended to be electives or courses in
which teachers had developed new content.
Challenges
In the majority of classrooms, students were not focused. In many classrooms, students sat
quietly with headphones in, stared at their phones, completely disconnected from the
environment around them.
In one classroom, students were copying and pasting segments of the text into answer boxes.
For example, the title of the article was “Ninth Grade: The Most Important Year of High
School.” When prompted to read the title and explain what they expected the piece to be
about, students copied the words “the most important year of high school” as their answer.
This continued throughout the reading comprehension exercise. In another class, students
were taking a quiz on remedial-level math problems, and often just used a calculator to find
the answer and then typing it into the online quiz.
Looking at the online learning organizational platform dominated instructional time.
Students often just clicked back and forth to act as if they were occupied.
School I
Challenges
The vast majority of observations witnessed classrooms where no instruction at all was taking
place. In several cases, teachers were missing with no clear reason, and we noted with surprise
that it was not apparent that the principal had a clear picture of who was where, teaching
what, and when.
The instruction that did take place was largely procedural and unengaging. Mostly, teachers
would undertake the work of the lesson, and students would volunteer to “fill in the blank,”
but there were no opportunities for serious engagement with ideas or for students to explain
their thinking.
Teachers circulated and could persuade students to do a single problem or question with
some prompting, but most students spent most of their time on their phones or socializing,
yelling, or moving about the room.
Teachers were heard yelling at students constantly throughout the building. Discipline
appeared to be enacted with no clear pattern, and rules varied significantly from room to
room.
Bullying, both verbal and physical, was open and visible around the school. Some students
visibly tried to hide or distance themselves from their peers to avoid conflict.
Transitions were a major problem at the school and contribute to the lack of instruction
taking place.
School J
Successes
Challenges
School K
Successes
Some classrooms provided positive learning environments. The arts and CTE programs had
the materials they needed. Some teachers displayed evidence of good routines and competent
planning, such as a lesson on The Poet X that was well organized and made good use of a
second educator in the room, or a great standards-based geometry lesson. There was some
evidence of strong student work product, especially in ELA. Students especially reported that
they enjoyed the URI writing class.
Challenges
There was an overall sense from the team that they saw two different schools here: one for
those who chose to engage and were getting a decent education; the other for those who did
not show interest and were left to do whatever they liked. The seating arrangements often
School L
Successes
There were a handful of teachers working incredibly hard to provide high-quality instruction
for their students. These teachers were spread among subject areas and programs and are not
isolated in advanced academic tracks.
The special education team was currently fully compliant and provided quality education to
the high-needs students in their care. In many electives, integration was effective and positive
for all students, and many self-contained ELA and Math classes were providing high-quality
instruction at grade level. This was unique among schools we visited.
Challenges
The team agreed that in this school, the majority of teachers and students appeared to have
largely given up on an education.
While most students were compliant, they were not engaged. We saw students sitting at their
desks, sedate, with headphones in their ears scrolling through their phones. They did not
respond to teachers, and teachers rarely attempted to engage them beyond yelling at them
periodically. In one classroom, there was a Senior taking a final exam, scrolling through
social media, leaving the blank test untouched. S/he was not using the phone to attempt to
cheat. S/he simply was not taking the exam, and the teacher did not make any attempt to
change the behavior.
ELL classrooms were especially weak. Their class sizes were large, and teachers were working
extremely hard, often alone, and unable to provide adequate support for the number of
students present and the range of abilities in the room. As a result, most ELL students were
barely able to communicate in English at all and appeared completely disengaged, both in
self-contained and inclusion settings.
The review team found it striking that, despite the lack of rigorous instruction in classrooms, few
adults talked about the risks of under-challenging students. Many did, however, cite the lack of coherent
curriculum, and the lack of professional development, as deleterious to the learning environment.
We address both below.
Many interviewees commented upon the devotion of individual teachers and principals. So did
students, many of whom complimented specific teachers. In one school, we heard almost universally
positive comments about the principal. It became clear in focus groups and after-school
conversations that teachers are committed to their students and deeply distressed when their
students are short-changed. Teachers reported in several schools that the very hardships they faced
in their teaching work had prompted them to work more intensely with their colleagues - including
after hours – for the sake of children.
The team heard about good teaching from students in Kindergarten (specific examples of
differentiation) and 3-5th Grades. We heard from ELL, Math and Reading coaches that they think
very positively about their principal. We heard about strong efforts to get to know students’ parents,
including via multiple digital platforms (Kinvolved, Class Dojo, PTO Facebook, etc.).
We heard from many teachers and principals about the district’s efforts to support the emotional
and social well-being of students, and to approach this inclusively across the whole school. Although
teachers and principals constantly referenced the need for even more resources in this domain,
almost all interviewees appeared convinced of the necessity and importance of this work and
recognized that there has been a modest increase in resources. There is real pride in the fact that
SEL is being implemented in some schools.
Challenges
Facilities
One elementary school stood out as having excellent building conditions: the furniture and paint
appeared to be new, and the classrooms were well appointed and spacious. This proved to be an
exception, as the schools varied considerably in their physical condition. The worst reduced seasoned
members of the review team to tears.
Transportation is also problematic; in one school, children who want to attend after school clubs
cannot participate, because there is no bus available.
Of all the issues raised across all interviews, the CBA hiring policies came in for the greatest critique.
One principal wanted the ability to re-hire the right staff but could not get rid of the weakest teachers.
The team was told by teachers in another school that the inability of a school to fire the weakest
teachers was a real problem, because there were teachers who “just weren’t doing what they were
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Providence Public School District in Review
June 2019
supposed to be doing.” One principal reported still going to hearings about a teacher who had finally
been put on administrative leave for repeated, inappropriate physical contact with children. The
teacher is still on the roster and is still paid.
We heard frequently from principals that the district’s “criterion-based hiring” is far from being so.
Principals report that they are not able to determine why a teacher has been labeled as “displaced.”
It might be for academic incompetence or due to consolidation, and knowing which is critical for
intelligent hiring choices.
More importantly, the multiple rounds that make up the hiring system undermine strong faculty
placements. The team was told that principals usually cannot hire from outside the district until all
inside-the-district candidates have been placed, which means that principals may be forced to hire
an underperforming, but senior, teacher. Every time a job is filled, the teacher holds the post for a
year before the process starts again- producing what one principal called “a limbo of churn every
year.”
The CBA allows only one paid day of professional development (PD) a year; everything else must be
paid as overtime. The team heard repeatedly that even on that one day, much of the time is used up
on how to use “data planning,” often “in the form of outdated checklists,” rather than on teaching
and learning.
The lack of PD was a constant refrain across the schools. One school principal, facing the constraints
of such limited funded PD in her school, reported that s/he “tried to job-embed PD but had to
cancel because s/he couldn’t find the subs” to make it possible.
Professional development is not only an issue for teachers; principals reported that there were no
funds for principal conferences or training. One of them relies upon webinars to expand
professional knowledge.
There are other consequences: the lack of professional development impairs teachers’ ability to help
special education students and to support students’ social and emotional learning.
Teachers reported that, as a result of no support or preparation, “they are not meeting IEPs.”
This is clearly a larger problem (at one elementary school, SPED leads told team members
that “SPED services are not being met by the school and have not been met for many years
at [their school] and across the district”), but teachers in the elementary schools spoke
extensively about training.
o PPSD “suggests PD but then offers none.”
o Teachers at one school reported that “it is simply impossible to do our jobs” when it
comes to meeting IEPs.
o SPED Resource teachers in one school reported that they are not provided with any
multi-sensory program to teach special needs children. They were told “make up your
own – we don’t have the money.”
o In another school, the review team was told that “half of the IEP students are
inappropriately placed and the terms of their IEPs aren’t being met.” The team was
also told that PPSD “has 10 mild to moderate seats in the district.”
o The school psychologist was “not seeing the number of students they are required to
see,” and “parents were only sometimes being told about their children’s IEPs and
then not fully.” When informed repeatedly of these issues, PPSD central office “did
nothing.” Only after staff went to RIDE was there very limited responsive action. The
review team was told several times that school-level administrators told teachers not
to communicate with PPSD about the lack of student support services.
The human capital issues go beyond the CBA, however. The review team saw shortages in important
positions in most schools. The level of staffing is clearly inconsistent from school to school in ways
not related to actual student numbers.
One elementary school had neither a social worker nor an assistant administrator for a
school of more than 400 students, 50% of whom are classified as Special Needs. All the
teachers in this school strongly agreed that the principal needs an assistant. They explained
that there was no second administrator, because PPSD doesn’t count Pre-K towards the
quota.
A second school of similar size did have a full-time social worker, but there had been no full-
time counselor for the last three years. There had also been no Pre-K director for the last six
months, and no SPED director - ever. One speech therapist had to manage 70 students, and
one part-time psychologist conducts evaluations for the IEPs “and deal[s] with crises.” An art
class had been cancelled, because the regular teacher was absent and there were no suitable
substitute teachers. Students recalled that they had received “science teaching once in all of
second grade,” and third graders reported they had had zero field trips this year. Students in
one class reported that they had had a sub for “five weeks,” and a student in this group
reported that he knew that they were behind the other kids as a result. The principal at this
school confirmed the human capital challenge; there was the need to look for more
substitutes constantly. In terms of pre-K, teachers reported to us that there was often only
one adult in the room, which they said is a violation of the law.
Across the board, and in every school, the team was told of a chronic shortage of vitally
needed ELL coordinators, and a lack of bilingual support generally. One principal expressed
concern that there were no bilingual clerical staff in the building.
In one school, the key problems included no resident reading specialist with 80 ELL students
in the building, and the visiting reading coach trying to serve more than 30 of them each
day.
School Culture
Teacher morale is clearly low. In one interview with 15 teachers, some were openly crying about
what their students and they had to deal with: no discipline expectations or support to maintain
behavioral norms; “total disconnect between 797 [shorthand for district offices] and the school;”
“no bilingual support.” The team heard numerous variations on the same theme. Frequent changes
in principal, in curriculum, in testing and standards; having little time for collaboration; and huge
challenges with SPED, ELL and SEL have worn them down. There was testimony that the “negative
Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy 44
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perception of PPSD” was a constant backdrop and sap on morale. Teachers told us that the lack of
supports was hurting children in their school. In one school, teachers remarked that “they have third
graders who have already given up and checked out.”
In one elementary school, a teacher berated students while trying to get them to the bathroom.
The teacher asked the students (who were likely in third or fourth grade) to line up by gender
and allowed them to go into the bathrooms one at a time.
The teacher yelled at the students the entire time, taking away minutes of their recess on a
clip board as punishment for misbehaving.
The observer noted that the children were standing peacefully in line and chatting with their
neighbors, but the teacher wanted silence. Finally, the teacher told them to put their hands
in the air, stating, "I should see the backs of your heads and the backs of your hands."
In the same school, another member of our team witnessed other teachers who were disrespectful
and very loud towards younger students. We overheard scornful yelling in the hallways as teachers
and aides placed students into lines for extracurriculars or the bathroom.
The issue of teachers’ view of their environment also came up. In one school, teachers told the team
that none of them lived in the district or sent their children to PPSD schools. This pattern was
repeated in all the schools we visited; almost unanimously, teachers told us that they would send
their children to a PPSD school “only if they could pick the teachers.7”
Team members at this school observed, and principals confirmed, high rates of teacher absenteeism.
One example: in one elementary school, the office board listed fifteen absent teachers.
Student absenteeism came up frequently but appears to vary considerably school to school.
o In one school, our team was told that “10% of the classes are missing every day, with two to
three tardies on top of that.”
o In another school, we were told that “half the kids on our roster are missing every day.”
o In a third school, we were told that one cause of absences is that students are afraid of being
deported by ICE.
o Teams were told that PPSD appeared to exercise “no accountability” towards schools on this
issue.
Student bullying is clearly another issue; in one elementary school, students told us that bullying
occurred “every day at lunch,” and that stealing from backpacks happened frequently. One school
6
Many teachers noted the lack of community schools as “ruining the culture.”
7
The president of the PTU said that 80% of PPSD teachers lived outside the district.
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had “quiet rooms,” described by both a classroom observer and a parent as “solitary confinement
rooms.” Several rooms used for behavioral interventions didn’t show up on our school map.
In three schools, our team was told by multiple students about “arranged fights” “often involving
girls” that took place “especially on Fridays” and that were “actively promoted on social media.”
One elementary school principal told the team that her most important contribution to her school
was “ensuring that the students feel safe.”
Curriculum
Teachers, principals, and even students noted the lack of an established curricula as problematic.
Representative anecdotes include:
Teachers said it was hard on students to experience inconsistent curricula from class to class
and grade to grade. When asked about the fact that there were supposed to be just four
curricula vetted by the district, we were told about multiple impediments: in one school, the
new curriculum materials did not arrive until November and included no appropriate
materials for IEP students.
In other cases, it was clear that ambivalence about using a particular curriculum started at
the top. In one school, the principal told us that the school had purchased Eureka [a math
curriculum] but that s/he was “not a fan of programs” and so “considers Eureka more of a
resource than a curriculum.” Nevertheless, this principal intended to purchase three new
ELA curricula next year.
Without PD, teachers often use older curricula, and mixtures from all over including the
internet (as confirmed by our team in the classroom visits). In one school, the principal listed
almost 20 different curricula, between math and ELA, that are in use.
SPED teachers reported that they “are constantly needing to find and/or create our own
curriculum, and the resources to use it.” In one school, SPED teachers were “asked to put in
for a donor” who would support the purchase of curriculum materials.
In our conversations with students across schools, many reported curriculum gaps – no
science in a grade level in one school, no social studies in a grade level in another.
Representative quotes include:
“We use what we can find,” said an elementary school teacher in a group interview.
Teachers in several schools told the team that they would “trade autonomy for a curriculum.”
Interviews with High School (and some Middle) Teachers, Principals, and
Students
The review team also meet with administrators, teachers, and students in every school. We heard
about several some positive initiatives in schools, such as the increased enrollment in Advanced
Placement courses, better communication with parents via Kinvolved, and a new data system in
place to monitor students’ social and emotional behavior.
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However, the teachers and students with whom we spoke focused almost exclusively upon the
negatives, as did most administrators. As indicated above, the most frequently cited challenges were
low academic expectations, dysfunctional and/or dangerous school culture, and student needs that
are not adequately supported. These issues came up repeatedly and across multiple constituencies.
Within the school culture conversations, there was general agreement amongst teachers, but not
amongst principals, that the pressure to reduce suspensions has resulted in a lack of safety in schools.
There was also widespread agreement that students’ social and emotional needs are not being met –
to the detriment of both learning and environment. Administrators and many teachers repeated the
claim that the district includes teachers who should not be in front of children. In one middle school, we
were told in several groups about one particular teacher who was known for making profane and
racist slurs against students, but could not be removed because “s/he lawyers up and cannot be
fired.”
Because of the ubiquity of these sentiments, we provide findings that cut across all constituencies
except where noted.
Interviewees spoke consistently and frequently about a lack of rigor and also the generally low
expectations. They cited the following as contributing factors:
Great variability in the quality of instruction, and very little accountability for teacher
performance.
Limited support for instruction.
Lack of a common curriculum and the absence of curriculum consistency exacerbated by
student mobility, emphasis on procedural math and poor-quality reading material.
Teacher absenteeism.
Deficiency in content expertise among secondary teachers.
Multiple instances of very poor implementation of the Summit learning platform, which is
part of a general perception that a lot of money spent on technology but with very inadequate
professional support.
Unfortunately, the statements by some principals about their schools did not match academic
results. For instance, one principal reported that “85-90% of the teachers are effective,” and that
s/he would “feel great about sending [their] own kids attending this school.” Yet the most recent
proficiency results in math for that school are below 5%.
When asked whether their students were getting a rigorous education, the first two teacher responses
at one school were, “Hmmmmm” and “No.” A third said, “Pressure to graduate students can make
things really difficult.” In another school, a teacher said “Students know they don’t have to do
anything to pass,” and a colleague added, “There’s pressure to pass kids even when they clearly don’t
deserve it.”
Related to this, many teachers and principals noted the lack of professional development as a causal
factor.
It must be said that there is significant skepticism about Summit Learning Platform.
Only two principals were positive about Summit technology. One said: “There was successful
implementation and good buy-in following initial success.” A few teachers were also positive:
“Summit makes students work harder. It brings themes to instruction.”
Other principals, and teachers, said mixed to negative things. The most common reaction
was a variation on what one principal said: “In a way it has helped but there has been no
training for it.” From another principal: “Summit is used for grades 9 and 10 because of high
teacher and student absenteeism.”
Many students had a negative view: in one school, all students reported disliking Summit. “I
don’t like the projects because it takes away from teachers teaching.” Another said: “With
Summit you can basically finish in one week and then coast.”
The lack of support for students, and the disconnect between students and teachers, came up
frequently. Interviewees noted the following, specific challenges:
The demographic mis-match between students and teachers is on many people’s minds. One
teacher said: “The students feel the teachers live in a different world, and they are right.”
Language barriers.
o Teachers and administrators often referenced the large influx of immigrant students.
In one school, 72 of 240 members of the graduating cohort were newcomers. “They
spoke multiple languages without sufficient support for learning English.”
o “I have a student in my intervention class who doesn’t speak English, and I have no
idea if he can even read in Spanish.”
o Another teacher said: “There is no information from the registration center about
the educational background of new [ELL] students. There has been no improvement
for ELL since the DOJ report. The report mandated that every teacher in Providence
needed 10 hours of PD for teaching ELL. The PD was delivered poorly, there were
no administrators attending, and it only lasted three hours total.”
Social Emotional Support. Although they acknowledged increased attention to the issue,
teachers believe that much more support is needed for socio-emotional learning. Specifically,
they need translators or counselors who speak languages other than English or Spanish. They
also express a desire for more counselors and social workers in general.
Outside-the-school challenges. Many Providence students we spoke to referenced this issue.
For example, one high school student said to the team: “They [teachers] say to me, ‘I don’t
know why you’re so tired at 7 am, we all woke up early.’ I work from 5 or 7 pm until 4 am.
I got points off my final presentation because I woke up late. I’m not sure if I can graduate.”
Teachers reported, in all the schools we visited, that SPED, ELL and other students often
end up in the same classroom. We found repeated references to the lack of support for SPED
children – and to passing them along unprepared: “Social promotion is a huge issue. Half of
SPED students enter middle school with failing grades.”
One school informed us of 70 cases of suicidal ideation among students this year. The school
has had several suicide attempts, though none successful. Students on suicide watch are not
permitted to leave the classroom.
School Culture
Teachers were generally negative about their own schools. We asked teachers to rate their willingness
to allow their own children to attend the school where they were teaching (1 representing “least
willing” and 5 “most willing”). In one school, several teachers responded, but none answered greater
than a “1.” A counselor inquired “whether zero is an option.” One teacher said they would be willing
to allow their children to attend the school, “If they could select the teachers and students in their
classroom.” When asked why they provided such low answers, all teachers cited school climate or safety
concerns. In another school, the teachers offered grade scores of 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2.5. 3.5.
Teachers told reviewers that that it is now too difficult to suspend kids. They report that the directive
to maintain low suspension rates comes from RIDE. The implementation of restorative justice is
widely regarded as poor or worse, resulting in no consistent discipline policy within schools and
disruptive and sometimes violent student behavior and student and teacher concerns about safety.
We heard several references to the fact that there was no preparation for teachers to manage the new
Teachers feel unsafe. In one school, a math teacher was out for two weeks because s/he had been
pushed down in the hall by a student.
Low academic expectations, troubled school cultures, and a lack of student supports
were by far the most frequent remarks we heard, and they were validated by our
classroom and school observations.
Most of the comments made by those we interviewed were not positive. There was the frequent
expression of a disconnect between central office and the conditions on the ground in the schools.
One school counselor told the team that s/he is “beyond frustrated” about the relationship
with central office, noting that “they never visit the school but are critical anyway.”
One teacher said, “Here in Providence, the central office functions as an ivory tower. Many
decisions are made there with no insight into how things will be implemented. They could
put the Nike symbol on the building because everything is just ‘do it.’”
Another said: “Different initiatives are adopted from behavioral to academic to lunch
programs. There is no insight into how such programs are implemented. Some employees
are out of touch with practice.”
We were told that, in certain cases, directors in charge of principals have never been
principals. Of one such case, a teacher asked why the director would be leading middle
schools, “all of which are failing,” and finding the principals to be “’highly effective?’”
One administrator said, “The central office is constantly adding staff they don’t need. All
kinds of people with different titles. The director of partnerships has 2 people under them.
It’s unclear what they do. Human Resources is larger than ever, but nothing has actually
changed for schools.”
We heard several references to the sense that the office doesn’t recognize real achievement.
A principal reported that “lack of respect for work from central office” was one of the on-
going challenges.
When asked about the strengths of the district, parents and community members responded most
frequently with the diversity of the student body and the devotion of specific teachers (note, however,
that many also listed teachers as a “challenge”).
The top two challenges that parents and community members articulated again and again:
Academic Quality. Parents are concerned with lack of rigor, changing and misaligned
curriculum, low expectations, and inequitable access within district. Latino parents are
particularly articulate about the lack of expectations and even lack of homework assignments.
School Culture and Student Supports. We heard reports of significant chaos and bullying
in the schools, and of children who do not feel safe going to school.
Parents and community members also commented negatively on unsafe facilities, lack of
communication with schools, low parental engagement, chronic absenteeism (amongst students and
teachers), and a significant lack of teacher diversity.
Academic Quality
Overwhelmingly, the vast majority of respondents stated that they either would not send their child
to Providence schools if they had a choice, or that they would recommend or consider “certain
schools” only. There was considerable distress about the lack of academic rigor, and reports of
chronic low expectations for students. Latino parents frequently and vehemently expressed
frustration at the absence of homework.
Representative responses:
There are low expectations for academics, and a misalignment between the work
assigned and the way it is graded and what truly grade level work should look like. I
8
Beginning on May 10th, 182 survey responses were collected. Of those, 28 were in Spanish; we translated and included
selections here. These responses in Spanish were grouped together by date indicating some mobilization effort in that
school or community. Another 22 responses used all or part of a form letter for responses and were again largely grouped
together by date, also indicating an organized effort.
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have a fantasy of staring one of those humorous Instagram sites like "shit my kids
have broken" that is instead called "shit my kids got an A on." As a seventh grader,
my daughter has not yet been asked to write a single essay (unless you call the
SINGLE PARAGRAPH she handed in once this year an "essay" like her teacher did).
She slaps together her assignments at the last minute and gets an A every time. When
I showed her what the Common Core says 7th grade writing should look like, she
was shocked - "We haven't done anything like that." The last time she had to revise a
paper was in 4th grade. I don't say this to claim my child is brilliant or that "she needs
to be challenged." I say it because I believe all children need to be challenged and
that they can rise to the occasion, but that the curriculum in PPSD and the way
teachers are trained (or don't get trained) to implement it results in an ever-lower bar
for what children can do.” -PPSD Parent
Para mi el mayor problema es que no le dejan tarea al nino en la semana y los fines
de semana tampoco les dejan nada en VACACIONES deberian de darle un folleto
para que lo entregue lleno para el siguiente ano eso seria bien beneficioso para los
ninos. (“For me, the biggest problem is that they don’t assign homework during the week or on
weekends; over holidays they should provide more information about the upcoming year.”) -
PPSD Parent
I would absolutely, if at all possible, through every effort in your armor, send them
to either a private school or a school that has a very low students to teacher ratio. I
love Providence, I grew up here, I went to Hope, but it was at a time when you could
actually learn something. -PPSD Substitute Teacher
Additionally, there were reports from both parents and teachers that there is inequitable access to
resources and subject offerings between schools within the district, with students at some schools
receiving recess, art, and music while others do not.
The only reason Classical has a band is because of the luxury of the East Side parents
whose kids get to take lessons. -PPSD Teacher
Respondents almost uniformly agreed that there was inconsistent discipline and chaotic student
behavior, and that many children feel unsafe. There were accounts by parents and students of
bullying by both students and teachers, and recommendations for more support services, trauma
training, and cultural-responsiveness training.
Teachers’ contract allows them to be out too often, substitutes are ineffective and
kids are losing out! I have a child - middle school- in “advanced academics” and she
sits in the hallway so she can get work done. -PPSD Parent
Teachers are fed up and burnt out. Since the school year began, 3 of our child's 7th
grade teachers have left with subs filling in. If teachers are not there to teach, children
don't learn. Behavioral issues from half of the student population nearly halt the
learning process on a daily basis. Our children are stressed by this behavior and do
not always feel safe. -PPSD Parent
We had a couple cut ups in the class… There were students who would get up and
they’d start shooting paper at the door like they were playing basketball. This kid
once said to these kids “Shut the [explicative] up – I’m trying to get an education.” -
PPSD Teacher
Every school needs a full-time social worker. Cause those kids need someone to talk
to – maybe they don’t have gym but they have an hour to talk to someone. Your child
might have a bigger issue. I can’t teach if the behavior doesn’t warrant it. There are
a lot of people who want to teach but people are running from PPSD because of the
behavior. That’s Providence’s biggest problem. -PPSD Teacher
Facilities
Respondents agreed that school facilities were in “deplorable” condition and cited examples of lead
drinking water, lead paint, mold, “broken asbestos tiles,” rodents, and no heat or air conditioning.
Students know which schools are being invested in. They say, “That school has air
conditioning, and computers, and books.” Are we really investing in all students? -
Community Member
Respondents agreed that communication at the school and district level was wanting. Parents cited
this as a reason for their perceived lack of engagement, feeling that it was difficult to advocate for
their students. Many mentioned the absence of parent-teacher conferences at the school level9 and
their difficulties to obtain even an annual meeting with a classroom teacher.
Because of language barriers and work schedules, if you are not linked up with
outside supports or advocacy groups, there is no one standing up for you. - PPSD
Parent
Respondents agreed that chronic absenteeism, both of students and teachers, was a challenge in the
district. A form letter used by many respondents called for stopping teachers who abused the system.
Relatedly, there were many complaints about the lack of substitute teachers and the resulting
problems of overcrowding in classrooms - and the impact on learning.
Respondents also agreed about the need for a teacher corps that more closely reflected the
demographic makeup of the student body, calling for the hiring of more racially diverse teachers and
citing the importance of students’ seeing themselves reflected in the leadership of the school.
There is a fair bit of name-calling [among students], including homophobic and racist
slurs. I am also very disappointed that the teaching corps does not reflect the student
body's diversity; students need to see themselves reflected in school leaders. -PPSD
Parent
I visited [School A] for a tour because that is our neighborhood school. I was shocked
to see the number of teachers absent and a shortage of substitute teachers to cover
the classes. -PPSD Parent
9
The decision to hold parent/teacher conferences was reportedly left up to the schools. Some chose not to have
conferences. Others held parent nights to which at least one parent reported the classroom teachers failed to attend.
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At both [School B and School C], we have had issues with teachers being chronically
absent….There are a number of things I would like to see improved, however the
main things are having good leadership who show an interest in the children and
their learning and then having less teachers absences. -PPSD Parent
Summary
The Operations and Partnerships review team was comprised of five members:
Dr. Frank Sanchez, President, Rhode Island College
Dr. Anthony Rolle, Dean, Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Education, URI
Karen Taresevich, Superintendent, West Warwick Public Schools
Carolyn Dias, former Assistant Dean of Operations and Special Projects, Roger Williams
University
Michelle Davidson, Parent Advocate
Dr. Ashley Berner, Deputy Director, Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy (Team
Lead)
Our interviews took place at the district offices between May 20 – May 24 and via Zoom or phone
subsequently. All told, the review team conducted eight meetings with staff from fourteen different
offices at Providence Public School District (PPSD); five meetings of support partners (from
professional development providers and youth organizations to teacher preparation programs)
representing twenty-one different organizations; one meeting with PPSD vendors; and one meeting
with teachers numbering more than 25. We also conducted individual interviews and focus groups
with business leaders, the Mayor’s staff, and staff from RIDE; these are placed at the end of this
section. The groups raised numerous concerns, some of which received only scant attention.10 We
focus upon key themes that were repeated again and again and that cut across multiple constituencies.
Two successes consistently emerged from these conversations:
Some district offices. Many partners complimented the teams at several district offices, as
having streamlined processes and created an inclusive and strong vision for success.
Some principals and teachers. Every group noted the presence of devoted teachers and
principals who go above and beyond to support student success.
Five challenges were articulated again and again:
Governance and Vision. No one we interviewed thought the system worked well or posed a
coherent vision.
Union Contract. All but one group (a district office) emphasized the negative effects of two
components of the Collective Bargaining Agreement: the hiring/firing process and the
paucity of professional development days.
10
We note, for instance, that several groups feel the district is unprepared for the growing number of ELL students;
others noted difficulties with the enrollment systems.
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Procurement. All but one group (the same district office) and one individual noted the
difficulties imposed by the procurement process.
School Culture. There was widespread agreement that the culture in many schools,
particularly middle and high schools, causes distress for students, teachers, and principals.
Low Expectations. The majority of individuals mentioned the low academic expectations
that the state, district, and business community hold for students in Providence.
We explore each of these strengths and weaknesses in full below.
Successes
Several district teams described major efforts to create more rational processes and to develop what
several teams called a “customer service” attitude. The Operations team has entered into
partnerships with city offices and has brought new resources and a plan to upgrade facilities for
schools; Teaching and Learning (including the offices for English Language learners and special
education) has created a coherent vision for teaching and learning, as well as data systems that can
help assess and place students; the Human Capital division has built a strong team and codified
procedures; the Business Office has found efficiencies and virtually eliminated errors in the budgets;
Data, Assessment, & Technology is service-oriented and generates impressive data for school leaders
and the superintendent. Of the district groups, Teaching & Learning and the Student Supports
office focused their comments extensively upon student learning. Indeed, the latter succeeded in
putting Advanced Placement in every high school.
Many partners verified the positive work of specific offices, particularly Teaching & Learning and
Operations.
Operations was commended for setting a positive and inclusive tone for vendors. Indeed, one group
commented that “this relationship has never been better.”
Many of the partners we interviewed commented upon the devotion of individual teachers and
principals. Representative comments include:
“Teachers are deeply invested in their students.”
“There are great relationships between teachers and principals in many schools.”
“Principals are asked to do too many things – but they stay for the sake of the kids.”
“Principals are the unsung heroes of our system.”
“Our team talks principals off the ledge all the time; they’re staying just to help kids. They
don’t get enough credit.”
Some schools and principals came in for particular praise. DelSesto Middle School, for instance,
received kudos from partners for a strong school culture – and cultural coordinators - and good
working relationships amongst staff.
Teachers in the focus group were clearly committed to their students; many of them spend their own
money, not only on supplies for students, but also for jackets and coats; many of them noted that
they “stay for the kids,” despite the working conditions and difficulties (noted later). For their part,
several district leaders broke down in tears when describing the negative impact of the challenges
(see below) upon children; a few had left the district for a time but returned out of commitment to
the students.
Challenges
All but one of the groups we interviewed believe that the structure of the system is deeply problematic
and contributes to the inability of leaders to provide a vision. Most of the interviewees noted that
there were “too many masters,” i.e., the School Board, the Mayor, the City Council, the state. One
person noted, “There are all these chefs stirring the pot, but the soup never gets made.” (We have
listed Procurement as its own theme, but it is clearly related to governance.)
Several specific sub-topics came up again and again, within the general theme of multiple layers of
governance.
Political patronage. It is the feeling of many teachers, district leaders, and partners, that
political favoritism is woven throughout the system. The strength of this belief was striking to the
review team. Comments included:
o “We’re not sure who has whose ear.”
o “Confronting racism or underperformance is risky. There are backdoor deals that
happen and personal friendships are at play.”
o “Nothing is confidential. If you act as your ‘bold self,’ you could get a call from a
council member or senator. Budgets could be impacted.”
o “It all depends on who you know.”
City’s Authority. Few interviewees (only two individuals) believe the city’s oversight is
beneficial. The rest noted that schools have to compete with other items in the city budget
and that there is scant educational experience amongst the city’s leadership.
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o That the Mayor negotiates the Collective Bargaining Agreement is considered a
serious constraint to most district leaders and partners, who talked not only of the
Mayor but “the mayor’s team.”
o One partner noted that the Superintendent is not even party to the CBA negotiation;
three partners and district leaders asked, given the lack of meaningful authority,
“Who would want to become the superintendent of Providence Public Schools?”
District’s Priorities. Many teachers, partners, and even district leaders feel that the district’s
systemic priorities skew toward adults rather than students.
o Partners believe the compliance side of the district is getting worse.
o The Human Capital office in particular is perceived as protectionist and also
politically protected.
o Many district leaders and teachers feel that the district “is an organizational
organization, not an instructional organization.” There are “too many meetings and
grievance hearings, and not enough concern for students.” “There is no priority on
instructional practice.”
o “This organization is upside down. Students need to be the most important element.
All systems should be fueling the students at the top of the pyramid. The piece that
is missing every time is getting into the classroom to give instructional feedback.”
o “The growth in district-level hiring has no relevance to student achievement.”
o While very few interviewees commented upon the current superintendent, those
who did were mostly favorable about his vision.
Rhode Island Department of Education. Issues with RIDE’s leadership and priorities include:
o RIDE focuses on curriculum but not on instruction; it is not interested in
professional development.
o The star system of rating schools makes it more difficult for schools to accept large
numbers of ELL and Special Education students.
o RTI’s are onerous; teachers have to spend too much time documenting everything.
o RIDE issues unfunded mandates that burden schools (there were several comments
about PD requirements).
o RIDE exerts pressure on districts to lower suspension rates, which affects school
culture negatively.
o RIDE requires federally funded fiscal negotiations “based on 98% of prior year,”
which “puts us in the constant amendment process. And the process changes
constantly.”
o The Department does not concern itself with facilities problems – such as lead
abatement funding.
The overlapping networks of authority are no doubt related to the lack of vision, which partners and
teachers frequently mentioned (with exceptions for particular district offices, noted above).
One of the most striking findings was the agreement across all groups except for one that two features
of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) are detrimental to student success: the hiring policies
and the restriction on professional development days.
Hiring and dismissal policies. Of all the issues raised across all interviews, the CBA hiring policies came
in for the greatest critique. Every single group and most individuals (except for one group – a district
office) named the CBA as one of the top most pressing problems for schools.
In general terms, district leaders, teachers, and partners referred to the CBA as “oriented towards
staff, not students”; “based on adults, not children”; “a roadblock.” It must be noted that this was
highlighted in several conversations as particularly problematic for teachers of color, who are “chased
out by other teachers” without apparent consequences.
In specific terms:
The hiring process.
o In November or December, principals list their personnel needs for the following
year.
o Teachers in that school, and then across the district, may apply for these jobs based
upon seniority.
o Displaced teachers across the district may apply for these jobs based upon seniority
(more on displacement below).
o Principals must accept these applications, provided the certification aligns. Only
afterwards may the positions be posted externally.
o The process is seen to protect poorly-performing teachers and require principals to
hire staff who may not align with his or her vision for the school.
The dismissal process.
o All interviewees except for the Human Capital office noted that there have been no
dismissals due to financial constraints or to performance; “the number of teachers
who have been let go on account of performance is exactly nil.”
o The onerous process of documenting low performance was cited as a factor, but
several partners and district leaders also claimed that no one is willing to actually
dismiss a teacher because “Human Capital says the School Board wouldn’t allow it”
or “the Superintendent says it doesn’t look good politically.”
o Four interviewees, from four different groups, provided a specific number of low-
performing teachers (55) who should be let go immediately.
Consequences for schools.
o The large majority of interviewees consider the consequences of these policies and
the seeming lack of political will to be dire.
Loss of morale in schools. Teachers and leaders alike said that, in every school,
teachers know which of their colleagues are not serving students well. Six
partners and teachers cited additional experiences with negative pressure
from peers, who indicated that “going the extra mile” makes everyone look
bad. Specifically, we heard, “Unions discriminate against hard work. They
put pressure on those who go above the bare minimum and ask ‘why?’ if you
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want to do more. This is not only teachers, but secretaries and custodians.”
One teacher said, “The union contract is a double-edged sword.” Principals
are not even allowed to move a teacher to a different grade within a school.
Inability to push for excellence. Partners noted that classroom evaluations are
“useless,” since “if a principal has issues with a teacher on performance, the
union rep wants to be present in all conversations,” and in the end, “the
union will not sign a negative evaluation and will prevent teachers from
signing as well.”
Difficulty with recruitment and retention. Several partners noted that, when a
young teacher experiences racist comments from peers, principals feel
constrained in addressing it. This results in fewer teacher leaders staying in
the district or wanting to become principals. One partner noted that as a
result, “AP positions are left open.”
o It would take pages to list all of the comments that were made about this element of
the CBA. A few representative comments, echoed across the interviews, are below.
“No one can lay off teachers. Ineffective teachers just get shuffled.”
“They’ve gamed the system.”
“There is no peer critique. Peer coaching is perceived as punitive.”
“Even using classroom observations for non-evaluative purposes is
discouraged.”
“We can’t get rid of teachers; it’s a slap in the face for teachers who come in
every day to do a good job. It’s demoralizing.”
“If you want to do right by kids, you don’t make a whole lot of friends. There
are active and passive pressure. Why do I have to put teachers who don’t do
right by kids in front of students?”
“We get eyeballed by our colleagues when there’s hard work going on.”
“The displacement process is [explicative].”
“What we really need are more ELL-certified teachers – but we can’t hire.”
Constraints on Professional Development. The CBA allows only one paid day of professional
development (PD) a year; everything else must be paid as overtime. We learned about new programs,
such as the Advanced Placement coursework, that had been initially funded externally and so could
include PD. When external funding goes away, so does the PD. The sense is that Professional
Learning Communities are strong but voluntary (some 240 teachers participated last year). At the
same time, by all counts, teachers would like more professional development in several core areas:
instruction and classroom management, culturally responsive teaching, and social and emotional
development, in particular. Many of our interviewees consider the lack of PD to seriously impede
teachers’ growth and students’ success.
Every group we interviewed (except, perhaps understandably, the teachers’ group) emphasized the
burdens imposed by the procurement process, which entails proposals to multiple city and district
bodies. One of the district leaders pinned up a chart of all of the players and steps that any contract
must go through before approval:
The “unwieldy” process is compounded by the fact that any request that is more than $5,000, must
be voted upon by the City Council and the School Board. Every element of the process came under
fire from district leaders and partners:
The RFP process “is onerous; even the form is too long.”
o Because of this, “it is hard to attract high-quality vendors.”
o “There is no transparency around RFPs.”
o “The RFPs don’t even include scoring rubrics.”
Small vendors are handicapped, because they don’t have the staff to attend multiple
committee and full board meetings.
o One partner noted, “It took us two years to get a contract under $20,000 approved.”
o Another noted the outdated requirements, such as presenting proposals in triplicate
binders with tabs in a specified order.
“PPSD can enter into only short-term, reactive partnerships. There isn’t the long-term arc of
partnership that a three-year contract would allow.”
The volume of paperwork that results is “stunning.”
We encountered widespread agreement that the culture in many schools – particularly middle and
high schools - causes distress for students, teachers, and principals. Elementary schools were, by and
large, commended for having somewhat less chaos, more instructional support, and “more granular,
classroom-level connections.” The middle and high schools, on the other hand, are “a disaster.”
Discipline. Many teachers do not feel safe in school, and most partners and district staff concur. There
is a general feeling that actions do not have consequences, and that teachers are at physical and
emotional risk. One interviewee feels like “the tired, drained teachers of Providence are dragging
kids across the finish line.” A few representative comments:
“My best teacher’s desk was urinated on, and nothing happened.”
“One of our teachers was choked by a student in front of the whole class. Everybody was
traumatized, but nothing happened.”
“When we refer a student, we get zero response. Kindergartners punch each other in the face
– with no consequences.”
“Principals are not allowed to suspend.”
Some of these issues likely result from pressure to reduce suspensions. Teachers and district leaders
feel that children with behavioral problems are allowed to continue, passed from one classroom and
school to another. Several noted that the number of social workers in schools is too modest.
Said one district leader, “the data masks what’s happening. We can SAY we’re reducing
suspensions, but we’re just churning middle schoolers.”
Several teachers note that the plan to implement restorative practices foundered because of
lack of PD, but “we’re still supposed to use them. Restorative practices cannot be done unless
everybody in the building is trained.”
Racial mis-match between students and teachers. The lack of diversity of Providence’s teaching force, and
barriers to teachers of color, came up in multiple interviews across multiple stakeholders.
Low Expectations
There is widespread agreement among district leaders and partners that all parties (state, district,
teachers, and the business community) hold very low expectations for Providence’s students, with
Interviews with RIDE Staff, Mayor’s Staff, President of the PTU, and
Providence Business Stakeholders
Successes
Use of data. Providence has done the most out of all of the districts to use and present data.
Their dashboard and capacity to use the data to good effect is strong. Interviewees did add
that elementary school principals are the strongest at using the data.
Individual schools. There are many good teachers and principals at the schools, and many
assets despite the challenges. There are many challenges but there are strong assets. Schools
are less committed to the status quo than the district is.
The RIDE staff we interviewed do not believe that the structure of Providence and the relationships
between relevant parties are working well. Cooperation between entities is minimal, and the
Commissioners historically have to “pick political battles,” which limits what RIDE can “do,
implement, and enforce.” Specifically,
Constant Change. There are so many actors who influence Providence, that every change
brings about a new mission. Trust is hard to build because “the mission of the relationship
between Providence and RIDE” is unclear.
District. Team members hold that there can be intentional obstruction of partnership with
RIDE by the district. Additionally,
o PPSD has money that carries over from year to year, rather than being spent down.
Part of the problem is that the relevant office is severely understaffed, with one
person who is “hugely overworked.”
o Academically, PPSD does not have a foundational K-3 reading curriculum in the
schools, which results in students’ not being able to read by 5th grade.
o RIDE staff noted that the PPSD office that handles substitute teachers is among the
weakest offices.
State Board (K-12 Council). The State Board is “not fighting for RIDE” and is “weak.”
o Additionally, there is a perception that disagreement with the State Board results in
punishment.
o Finally, the State Board is not helpful on equity and diversity.
Superintendent. The Superintendent does not attend RIDE meetings, which affects their
“ability to work together.”
RIDE. RIDE itself has a history of hiding failures, “trying to protect from outside
interference,” and not following through.
o This has resulted in districts, including PPSD, deciding to wait out each new
initiative.
o RIDE also has a history of withholding important information from the State Board.
o RIDE should focus much more on “curriculum and instruction” rather than
“compliance.”
o RIDE’s unwillingness to have conversations about equity and diversity has
consequences for PPSD (see below).
The RIDE staff members indicated that equity conversations are largely absent from the many layers
of governance that influence Providence. We focus here on their comments about RIDE’s role in this.
Avoidance.
o RIDE “actively chooses” not to engage in difficult conversations about race and
gender.
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o There have been problems with “embedded racism and sexism” that were “routine
and covered up.”
o RIDE does not have a common and consistent rubric to promote diversity and
equity.
Consequences.
o Many people in Providence feel that “RIDE cannot contribute to Providence’s
discussion on race, equity, and diversity, because RIDE doesn’t engage in those
conversations themselves.”
o There is insufficient focus within RIDE upon helping higher education to develop
pipelines of teachers of color.
Mayor’s Staff
The Mayor’s staff agrees with the consensus view across interviews, that there are too many “masters”
involved in school governance. However, they believe that the widespread inefficacies mean that
“someone has to get things done.” Often times, that “falls on us in the City.” The staff’s perspective
on each of the major entities who work with the district:
RIDE. There are no significant problems in working with RIDE.
PPSD. They cite “multiple issues” in working with PPSD:
o Constant change. “Central Administration is the place where good ideas go to die.”
o Negative relationship. The Mayor’s team believes that PPSD is “hostile;” there is
“active push against the Mayor’s office.” One member said that often “working with
nobody was easier,” so they by-pass the district and works with schools directly.
o Disconnected. Most district staff do not visit schools and thus “have no sense of
urgency.” Furthermore, the district regularly “turns down money” because they do
not have capacity.
o Ineffective. When asked about the frequent charge that the Mayor overstepped his
role, the staff averred that they had to step up when “nothing was getting done.”
They “didn’t want the extra work,” but when the district was unresponsive, someone
in the City had to take it upon themselves.
Superintendent “does not deal with logistics.”
Mayor. They perceive the Mayor as engaged; he “goes to a different school every week.”
The President’s overall perspective is that PPSD and the union are working effectively, but that the
Mayor and RIDE are not.
Successes
Personalized learning: use of Chromebook and Summit. She acknowledges that, when it
works, students could work on their own and then receive small-group instruction or be one-
on-one with teachers.
The union-assisted, five-year strategic plan. The union president felt like it wasn’t going to
be a “one and done” but did incorporate “new ideas and new people.” They are two years
into the plan, and she thinks people support it and things are better.
Challenges
Teachers “have PTSD” from mass firing and “sharp pendulum swings,” e.g., from minute-to-
minute classroom pacing, then complete autonomy. Teachers no longer trust that initiatives
will be followed through.
Substitute teachers. RIDE needs to work harder to create pipelines for teachers of color,
including for substitute teachers of color.
Professional development. Teachers need more PD – not only on instruction, but also
trauma, cultural competency, dealing with grief. The Race to the Top grant supported PD,
but it is now over.
Governance
RIDE.
o RIDE’s mandates change frequently. She worked with Commissioner Gist on an
educator evaluation model with an effectiveness rating tied to certification, indicators
and grades…then with Commissioner Wagner, the pendulum swung the other way:
it became “us versus them, setting Providence up to fail.”
o RIDE has unrealistic timelines. She gave the example of RICAS, which were taken
in April of last year, but the results only came in February of this year and then
teachers “were expected to move the needle in six weeks.”
Mayor. The President views the Mayor as a “detriment” to the district’s progress. Specifically,
o The Mayor micro-manages, including interviewing all non-union employees.
o He has an unfavorable view of the union and creates an “us vs them” atmosphere.
When asked to rate PPSD schools on a rating of 1-5 with five being the highest, all present
agreed on a “1” rating for the schools.
This group of interviewees said clearly that they are ready to help, but didn’t really know
what to do, and don’t want to spend money to no effect or put band-aids on a broken
system.
One member said (to agreement from the others), “The mission of schools doesn’t seem to
be clear. We aren’t all marching in the same direction.”
They expressed concern about PPSD: “You drive by here (PPSD) at 2:30pm and the parking
lot is empty. You drive by the schools and the parking lots are empty.”
Success
An internship at one of the high schools has helped to improve the dropout rate.
Challenges
The absence of teachers of color, and the lack of a strong teacher pipeline, were referenced
as a major challenge.
Wrap-around services are critically needed, especially for ELL students.
Schools needed more autonomy in purchasing and procurement.
The district needs additional funds from the state.
Summary
● Dr. David Steiner, Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Angela Watson, Johns Hopkins
University
● Superintendent Karen Tarasevich, West Warwick
● Dr. Domingo Morel, Rutgers University, Assistant Professor of Political Science, founder of
Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University
● Dr. Jaime Aquino, Distinguished Educator, Rochester NY
The interviews were conducted on-site in Providence. Team members interviewed representatives
from the City Council and the School Board, and Drs. Steiner and Aquino conducted the interview
with Superintendent Christopher N. Maher.
We summarize below the information and opinions that were shared with us during our interviews.
Because we believe it important to capture the perspectives of different governing bodies separately,
the following summaries are divided accordingly. We have grouped the responses into similar
headings so as to facilitate comparative and comparable review.11
As leader of the education system in Providence, Mayor Elorza summarized his position thus: “I ran
on the platform of education.... Education is my priority…. The buck stops with me. I am the one
the residents hold accountable.”
11
We interviewed council and board members in groups, so they did not get to hear what other colleagues shared with
us. We did try to share observations of later groups with earlier ones, and indicate below where there was a marked
difference of view from one or more members of each group.
12
Direct quotations are so marked. Other statements are paraphrases based upon the recording (with the Mayor’s
permission) of the discussion.
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He stated “I would be comfortable sending my child to any one of our elementary schools except
one. It is middle school where things go off the rails.”13 His grade for the school system is “a C.”
Successes
Under his tenure, the Mayor feels the system’s successes include:
Restructuring the district offices. The restructuring entailed putting people directly into the
schools and giving them more autonomy. The Mayor himself regularly visits schools.
Purchase of digital devices for every child. The focus on personalized learning and instruction
is designed to “untether learning from the schools.”
City-wide community gatherings.
School-culture coordinators. The coordinators in middle schools (and one high school) are
“younger, from the communities, and generally minorities.” They “have been well received
by the students,” although he acknowledges that they are overloaded.
Wrap-around services. Because on his understanding that 20% of a child’s life is spent in
school while the other 80% out of school, the Mayor has sought “to invest in things such as
afterschool learning, summer learning programs, and social and emotional learning
supports” – although he wants to focus more on personalized learning/instruction.
o His belief is that you get “the most bang for your buck” when investing in support
for children “outside school learning.” He has been “frustrated” by the lack of results
from in-school investments.
Challenges
The Mayor acknowledged general frustration with the “results.” He “[does] not want to be the
caretaker of a failing system.” The Mayor noted the following impediments to success for the district:
Governance. There are “too many cooks in the kitchen” and “so many levels of
review/meddling.”
Antiquated systems. “Status quo is not cutting it.”
o “We need additional flexibility in the system.”
o “The system is two generations behind and has not kept up with innovations.”
o The use of technology and data needs to improve. The district is “primitive with
data.”
Too few strong schools. The Mayor acknowledges that more high schools have to be like
Classical.
o “If it weren’t for Classical, I don’t know where I would be.”
o It’s “seen as the one hope for progressing.”
o For “low-income kids, it’s their one shot.”
13
See analysis of 8th-grade results and middle school observations.
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The Mayor’s General Operating Process
According to the Mayor, he defers to the Superintendent for school-based decisions. He holds no
real conversations regarding particular principals, but, rather, holds the superintendent accountable
for the principals hired. Therefore, he tries to find the “Coach Cooley” of superintendents.
In response to a question about granting school autonomy in the face of years of troubling results,
the Mayor responded that: “A strong school culture allows for better buy in. The principal is
responsible for setting the school culture.” He added, “I believe in autonomy because I have seen
the results of principals’ [using it effectively].”
He tries to interview and/or meet with key school department personnel. The Mayor said his process
with the district is identical to that with his other departments. He said that what the review
committee had been told about his interviewing crossing guards was not true.
Successes
The Superintendent focused the conversation on successes. These items overlap quite strongly with
those cited in his letter to the community:
More funding for LEP students (also referenced as ELLs, or English Language Learners).
Almost doubled the number of students taking college credit-bearing courses in high school.
New policies: The Racial and Ethnic Equity Policy, the new Code of Conduct, and the
Gender Expansive Student Policy.
The addition of ethnic studies courses (at the request of the students).
Expanded Social and Emotional supports and mental health programs.
Major increase in personalized learning (largely through the use of the Summit platform).
o The superintendent spent a lot of time on personalized learning in the interview;
he called it “a plus.”
o When asked whether personalized learning could be tied to academic outcomes, he
said “there have been pockets of gains.”
Expansion of summer learning opportunities with the Mayor’s office and through the “By
all Means” initiative.
Expansion of advanced academic programs in middle school.
Professional development for teachers on issues of racism and trauma-informed instruction.
The Superintendent said, “There is no alignment of priorities,” and just “too many masters in
PPSD.” Throughout the interview, he stressed frustration with the need for micro-management of
every initiative through endless layers, players and budget limits.
He said that new expenses had been incurred in the millions of dollars with only a fraction then
provided for payment. He mentioned an example of “$55 million in new costs vs $3.5 million in
new revenue generated in 2011.” Overall, the Superintendent said that endless “trivia” occupy
massive amounts of time. The key problem, the Superintendent said, was that “no one wanted to
lose control.”
School Board. He was not complimentary about the Board and said that they tend to micro-
manage the district.
RIDE. The Superintendent said RIDE was understaffed and “unable to differentiate their
support.”
The Mayor.
o The Mayor’s relationship with the City Council is not always straightforward, e.g., a
playground against an expenditure for a school.
o The Mayor is “often at odds with RIDE.”
o The Superintendent spoke for some time about the Mayor, who he said had taken
over negotiation of the school contract and negotiations, and who held meetings
with a large list of individuals inside the system, including clerks and laborers.14
City Council. The Council micro-manages every expenditure above $5,000. Furthermore, it
doesn’t meet in August, while the School Board often doesn’t meet in July, resulting in
months without action.
Superintendent’s office. The Superintendent is “often viewed as a department of the Mayor.”
“I often feel I don’t have the authority.”
Low Expectations
The Superintendent said that the biggest single problem in PPSD was “low expectations” throughout
the district. The most significant causes are:
14
The superintendent referred to the Mayor’s interviewing “crossing guards” as an example of micro-management.
This example was used by several other individuals on the school board interviewed by the review team. As cited
above, the Mayor explicitly denied that this occurred.
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The change in demographics, which has put severe strain on the system (the ELL student
population has risen exponentially in the 2010-2019 years).
The Collective Bargaining Agreement is a “thick” teachers’ contract which gives a green light
for grievances on “almost anything” and funds only one PD day per year. The
Superintendent contrasted this with 24 days of PD per year at Achievement First. This reality
leaves teachers unprepared.
A “massive teacher shortage” with an inadequate teacher pipeline. The Superintendent
noted that last year Rhode Island College had produced only six certified science teachers.
Political patronage. Personal favors and relationships have an outsized influence in the
district on matters small and large, such as extra dollars for ELL students, which finally came
through a personal relationship with the Speaker.
Parents are left out. Finally, the Superintendent said that facing all of this, parents’ voices
were often “spurned.” He heard from parent after parent, “We don’t know who to go to.”
The Superintendent stressed that changing what is taught in the classroom is “very hard.” He said
the old materials and curriculum were wholly inadequate. Teachers had also used Direct Instruction,
or built their own curriculum, or followed whatever their particular school was doing. He had been
pushing for limited curriculum autonomy that would enable teachers to choose from an approved
short list but noted that this was a work in progress.
In terms of the teaching corps, the Superintendent said that a large number of teachers had been in
the system for some twenty years, and had thus signed up when the population of PPSD was
different.
It was in these circumstances that he had supported (and continues to support) the emphasis on
digitally-based personalized learning. He believes that effective curriculum has to be presented in
different, non-traditional ways, and that this is now increasingly taking place.
The superintendent briefly discussed the findings of the U.S. Department of Justice that PPSD had
provided inadequate services to ELL students – including the commitment to hire more teachers
who were ELL certified. The Superintendent pointed out the “completely inadequate” historic level
of funding support for this population from the state – which had only recently supplied PPSD with
funding for ELL students.
The Superintendent focused on the circumstances of PPSD students. He acknowledged that despite
progress and good effort, there were still far too many instances in which the system was “failing to
protect the civil rights of students.” He pointed to the fact that when a student was suspended once
in middle school, he or she was six times more likely to drop out of high school, and that despite
some progress, suspension rates were still high.
The review team conducted three sessions of interviews with Council members. We found
widespread consensus on the successes and challenges below. Where there was divergence, we have
noted it as such.
Successes
The Council agreed that specific schools are doing well. Examples include one elementary school that
offers well-funded after-school programs, a “21st-Century grant,” and volunteer students and faculty
from a nearby university. It’s a “full-service school with an open door to community organizations.
One high school “is a shining star.” One Council member noted that “advanced academics have
expanded into new schools.”
They also agreed that charter schools work well for many students: in one charter school the “amount
of support for children was night and day more than in the district schools.” However, there is
divergence on whether to expand charter schools or to pause their growth. One member said:
“Charter schools keep parents in the city; the main loser is parochial schools.” In response to a
question about a large expansion of charters, members were cautious.
One member said: “The pro would be we could get rid of all the obstacles and red tape and
drama; but at the same time, [an issue would arise as to] how to protect the students from
the wrong charter CEO.”
Another said: “A part of me would be sad - because it’s sort of like the family you know,
right? At the same time, if we do want to reset and start over, if we went the charter route,
we would circumvent a lot of issues. [The question is] could we go that route? I don’t see the
Providence Teachers Union going anywhere, so that is something we would have to deal
with.”
In response, a further member of the board said “I agree with that assessment; I think we
owe it to the students, owe it to the parents to provide them the best possible education. If
this were an option, I would not close the door on it, but would proceed with caution.”
Challenges
There was general consensus that the following areas represent barriers to the district’s (and
students’) success: Governance, Academic Outcomes, and Facilities/Procurement.
Council members spent the majority of time discussing problems with governance and management.
As one member put it, “Who is responsible? Because it’s so unclear, all are responsible.” We heard
repeated comments to the effect of:
School Board. There was close to unanimous agreement that “the governing structure should
be the School Board.”
o Multiple council members noted that a forthcoming meeting with the school board
would be a first. According to several members, that meeting is happening because
the organization Young Voices presented data to the School Board and the City
Council (separately). One member thought the meeting might be connected to this
current review. There was general agreement that “we get no input from the School
Board.”
o Various members made suggestions for improvement: “What if we had a couple of
Council members embedded on the Board? [What about] “student representatives
on the School Board?” Several agreed that “representation on the School Board from
a wider selection of the neighborhoods” would help.
Council Itself. One member said (with no push back): “We don’t have that much power,”
but that the “City Council has to act as system-navigators because of so many challenges.”
o There was frustration and uncertainty about how to make the Council more effective;
most members were not convinced that transitioning to an elected board would
improve their impact (one member disagreed).
o The great majority agreed with some version of the following quotation: their
“engagement should be approving the budget, ensuring the school district has the
resources they need to implement programming, to hire, etc. While the Council
needs to know what’s happening since it’s providing money, there should be a
quarterly/annual report to share that goals/deliverables are being met.”
o There was also strong agreement on the limits of their own role in education in
Providence. Several acknowledged that “we over-complicate things;” “we need to stay
in our lane.” One member said: “[the] only role of the City Council should be
accountability.”
Academics
There was consensus on the fact that the academic outcomes were poor to very poor. The Council’s
overall assessment of the district performance, on a 1-5 scale with 5 being the highest, varied from
“3 - based on hope” to “a solid 2.” In terms of what grade parents as a whole might give the school
system, one said it “could be a B- but might be a D now.” When asked about what grade Latinx
parents would give the system, all but one council members agreed that “Hispanics might grade it
lower than a C or a D.” Remarks include:
“There is utter frustration....we are losing the middle class.”
The School Board “is almost afraid to be elected.”
When asked to account for the low grades, Council members provided the following answers:
Challenging population. Council members noted the very challenging social and economic
situation confronting families in Providence. They mentioned concentrated poverty, the
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high percentage of LEP and special needs students, and the fact that the city was working to
educate children from all over the world including some countries without written languages
(countries of origin include parts of Africa, Haiti, south Asia, and South America), and
indigenous students. For example,
o Multiple members spoke about the LEP15 student population and the “failure” to
staff the LEP office properly. One said that the LEP community must think we are
“a terrible failure.” Several members spoke to the severe lack of bilingual staff in the
district.
o There was agreement that “Title VI compliance isn’t good.” Several members spoke
of the lack of special education teachers, and one remarked that “teachers have to
coach parents on how to get the service.”
o Furthermore, members agreed that teachers and staff had not been trained in how
to support these new students.
Collective Bargaining Agreement. One member said (without pushback) that the “teacher
contract was not transformative.” This comment related to the concern that professional
development suffered, as there was only one mandatory PD day during orientation.
o “PD is challenging.”
o With affirmation from others present, one member asked, “What about cultural
competency, social emotional support, learning about the curriculum?”
Frequent change. Members noted that testing models had constantly changed over the last
few years, and that the district did not have a uniform curriculum. “That’s a problem.”
o Divergence. While some Council members mentioned that there were “significant
issues around teaching and training,” and that “instruction is not being taken
seriously,” others stressed that most teachers were doing their best in very difficult
circumstances.
There was near unanimous (with one exception) agreement that the requirement for the
Council to approve new contracts of $5,000 or above was not effective.
All agreed that the facilities required urgent, and major, attention.
o One said that “in the middle-class areas, parents had raised the money for urgent
repairs.”
o Another spoke about “deplorable conditions in certain schools.”
The review team conducted several group interviews, one individual interview, and one phone
interview with School Board members. We found widespread agreement about successes and
challenges. Where views diverged, we have noted as such.
15
“Limited English Proficiency.” In our interviews, some individuals used ELL (English Language Learner) to denote
the same group of students. We thus use the terms interchangeably in this report.
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Successes
There was general agreement that charter schools have been successful.
One Board member mentioned the many days of PD that Achievement First charter schools
in Providence provide, in comparison to the single day of PD in the district schools.
Members spoke of Achievement First schools as having high “standards of excellence.”
o “There is a clear vision, there is a clear expectation, there is a clear function.”
o “You knew from the minute you walked in that there were expectations, that the
teachers were all on the same page, that parents were welcome. There were very
deliberate open-door days.”
A few Board members noted the school-based health clinics they had put in place, and others the
reduction in school suspensions, as notable successes.16 Finally, while there was consensus that many
aspects of the Collective Bargaining Agreement hurt the district, members referred positively to
specific areas of cooperation with the Providence Teachers Union and the PTU President herself, who
“rolled up her sleeves” to address partnerships on chronic student and teacher absenteeism and
suspensions.
Challenges
The School Board members found challenges in almost every domain of the district. Representative
comments, echoed repeatedly, include:
When asked whether they would put their own child in a district school, one replied that the dire
needs overwhelmed the schools:
I like public schools; I am a product of public school. But I see my friends and their
kids going through elementary school. The stuff that elementary school kids are going
through is astounding to me: a lot of trauma, a lot of trauma - and teachers are not
16
While some Members noted the restorative practices as a positive, others acknowledged the “problems with
implementation.”
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equipped to deal with any of it. It is just seen as behavioral issues; trauma is not
recognized; learning disabilities, all kinds of conditions, are not recognized as social
or emotional issues. They are seen as behavioral issues.
There was general agreement that the following areas represent meaningful barriers to student
success: Governance, Academic Outcomes, and Facilities/Procurement.
Governance
Board members agree that the current structure is unwieldly. One member summed it up: “The
whole structure and organizational chart are very confusing.”
Comments include:
“There is no one entity where the buck stops.”
“You have to jump through a lot of hoops: School Board, City Council, Mayor. You may
never be able to get through the finish line.”
On specific actors:
Mayor. Board members expressed no personal animus, but no one thought that the relationship
between the Board and the Mayor was working especially well. “He doesn’t trust Board
leadership.” Specific concerns included:
o Lack of communication.
“I think the break in communication came when the mayor stopped meeting
with the leadership team on a monthly basis; a standing agreement is that
there should be monthly meetings as a conduit to get to the Board.”
“I have had three interactions with him in three years: when I got appointed,
reappointed, and at the Board retreat.”
o Mayor’s over-involvement.
He “runs a parallel process, interviewing not only superintendents but also
crossing-guards.”17
Our prior superintendent “would still be with us” if the “relationship
between her and the Mayor had been a healthy one.”
o Mayor’s initiatives “dilute the resources” so that they are not effective. On summer
learning: “We have no business running summer learning if we can’t do the school
year well.”
City Council. The Board considers the City Council to be “part of the problem.”
o “They think they know more about education, and they want to impose.”
o “It’s political machinations.”
o An upcoming joint meeting with the City Council, organized by Young Voices, has
no support on the Board.
RIDE. RIDE’s role was usually reported in negative terms.
17
Note: the Mayor explicitly denied this.
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o “Leadership” and the “revolving door” at RIDE are “major problems.”
o RIDE issues new mandates “constantly.”
o RIDE focuses on “individual schools, not systemic change.”
This means we have to “fix these five schools or RIDE will take over; or fix
these three schools or we lose federal funding.”
“Why aren’t we looking at system-wide reform?”
The focus on individual schools (e.g., school turnaround models) makes
improvement too contingent upon funding, school buy-in, and good
management at the school level.
o RIDE is making it harder to recruit and retain strong teachers through “raising
standards [which] lowers the pool. Getting an SAT score in the top 50% is
discriminatory, even racist.”
Instead, we need a “statewide pool.”
Providence “can’t fish beyond our borders because RIDE has made it virtually
impossible to do so. Strong teachers go to private schools or charter schools
because they can’t get the certifications they need.”
District.
o The district constantly introduces new ideas and mandates.
o The district is avoidant; they provide the School Board with aggregate data only: “We
mostly hear about the gains the district is making, the things the district is trying –
but [the district] shies away from presenting about the real issues. Because folks are
hesitant to come before the Board and present fully about what some of the issues
are, the Board is not fully informed.”
The Superintendent. There was little direct blame placed on the superintendent for the
academic outcomes in PPSD.
o Rather, the consensus view was that “the superintendent is not being given the
opportunity to do his actual job.”
o The Superintendent is unsupported: he should have a “second-in-command.”
School Board itself. The Board is frustrated by its lack of authority – and wants more – while
at the same time some members acknowledge their own limitations. There was agreement
that Board members need guidelines and training for what to look like, aside from the six
hours a year provided to them by the Rhode Island School Committee Association, which
they agreed was “terrible. It’s bland; it’s the same people giving out the same information;
it’s never relevant.”
o As far as limits of authority:
At least one member of the Board believes that but for the Collective
Bargaining Agreement the Board would “be able to make the necessary
changes we haven’t been able to make…. We w[ould] do a good job.” This
member speculated that the new RIDE administration might be considering
a take-over or receivership of PPSD and said that, the Board should be given
that responsibility instead.
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The Board believes that it is tough to hold them responsible for everyone’s
performance throughout PPSD; they don’t believe it’s their job.
However, there is strong agreement from Board members that their job is to
hire, fire, and evaluate the superintendent.
There is frustration that “we don’t even evaluate teachers based on learner
outcomes.”
There is frustration at the types of work the Board has to do instead of
education, such as terminations and grievances, but especially “contracts
[which] occupy huge time – there were 42 contracts to review at our last
meeting.”
o As far as weaknesses:
Although there is an executive leadership team, “The rest of the board
doesn’t know what’s going on… there are no goals.” Another said: “We pass
policies but are very unsure about what happens on the ground.” There was
some disagreement about a “divide” between the leadership team and the
other members, with the former group pointing to their willingness to spend
“more time dealing with district issues” and the latter claiming some
exclusion from the work of the leadership.
Their service as “community liaisons” between schools and central offices is
often seen as “micromanaging.”
The Board members want more training about social and emotional
education.
o Review Team Note. Whether caused by lack of authority or lack of information, the
Board members were either ill-informed or did not know which kinds of curricula
are being used in schools. The review team leader (Dr. Steiner) raised the issue of
curriculum, because the school teams reported that a great variety of materials are
being used, often within in the same school and grade-levels.
One member of the Board indicated that the vetting system in place should
make such variety impossible.
Another said curriculum was purely a matter of school autonomy.
Another member said, “I would like the Board to be more involved in
curriculum.”
A fourth member claimed that the curriculum selections “go through the
finance committee,” but not the full Board, and thus there is limited
oversight.
The review team noted these different responses, which directly reflect the
varying degree to which the Board knows what’s happening on the ground,
knows district policy, and thinks it should be involved in policy matters of this
kind.
The Board members all agreed that the performance needle has not moved and cited “what we have
done until now” as “tinkering around the margins.” In summary, “We have not moved the needle
on test scores or a culture of excellence.” Asked to evaluate the academic performance of PPSD on
a 1-5 scale with 5 being the highest, the consensus answer was “2.”18 Members were quick to say that
this did not reflect “lack of effort put in by the teachers and students; we have the most resilient
teachers and students on the face of this earth.”
But we also heard that no one is giving the Board real pushback about academic outcomes –
something the reviews found very notable.
The Board members suggested various causes for the academic underperformance:
Money. Almost everyone said that money is a problem, or even that it is the number one
problem.
o Some district offices, such as External Affairs, are “understaffed,” and the Family
Engagement Office is in “dire need of resources.”
o One member noted that “Some schools only have one social worker for half the day;
our kids’ social emotional needs are not being met.”
o While one member noted that “it’s not just about resources,” there was consensus
around the fact that “cuts in finances to the district over the years have hindered the
district’s ability to perform. There is another round of cuts this year; who do the cuts
effect? They effect the children; more funding would be needed.”
o There was strong agreement that the funding for LEP students was vastly inadequate.
One said “we finally got $5 million – really?”
o Many are concerned that the district’s low performance and dysfunction push away
private philanthropy: “For two years, have told the district to determine the ask for
funding – we will go to the Governor’s office to ask; we will bring in the union and
leadership asking for input. But the district doesn’t operationalize that. They leave
money at the table.” One member pointed out that “private funders are not going to
give money to the district: we need an education foundation [philanthropy].”
o But while some members drew a causal line from the money issues to morale issues,
no one explicitly blamed the lack of funds for the low expectations (see below). As
one member put it, “Outputs don’t match inputs. Whatever measure of success that
we are using – which keeps changing, which is a massive problem – you would expect
that our outputs would be different. Something has to change.”
Inadequate preparation and support for teaching and learning. Members were very clear that
“individual teachers are heroic,” but that many are “cynical and worn down.” They
acknowledged that the social context of Providence has changed, and that teachers are not
prepared.
o Teacher pipelines are “horrible; there is no innovative leadership.” This is
particularly acute when it comes to pipelines for teachers of color.
18
One member said “a 3, because I believe in the public school system.”
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There was strong agreement about a deep problem with diverse teacher
recruitment and support. One member remarked: “There isn’t a concerted
effort, not to retain teachers, not to retain teachers of color; I have a general
sense that there aren’t enough people of color in the pipeline to meet the
needs.”
One member cited that teachers of color sometimes face “immediate
supervisors” who are “part of the problem.”
School Discipline.19 Multiple members shared frustration with student support services. One
member claimed that it got so bad that the Board took over the responsibility from the
Superintendent.
o “We kept hearing about behaviors in the classroom, with the charge that there was
no funding, no supports for teachers, no solutions came after a year. So we got five
principals in the room, the union balked, got the union in the room and agreed on
the goals, showed the numbers and found out who was getting the referrals, and went
to [the principals] and offered them space so referrals were in-district.”
Teacher Morale. There was a consensus that this is a challenge. Board members attributed it
to lack of direction, lack of consistency, new plans, new standardized test, churn in
leadership, and lack of teacher PD.
Social Challenges. Many Board members cited the difficulties that families in Providence
face:
o “We have a variety of students coming from different backgrounds – not just
language, but trauma, refugees, unaccompanied minors, PTSD, learning disabilities,
sex trafficking, so much more than just language barriers. Some kids don’t know how
to read or write in their native language; the issues are a lot broader and more
complex.”
o “There are so many issues our students deal with – poverty, trauma, homelessness,
etc., and society has not addressed these issues.”
o Divergence. One Board member “respectfully disagreed” that the challenges presented
by a highly diverse student body are new, noting that “we have had diversity since
forever…but the system has always failed.” Other Board members worried out loud
that the student population would be used to “excuse” low performance.
Leadership and governance. Many members view the low achievement as a consequence of
the governance issues outlined above. “There is no hiding behind the fact that we have not
moved the needle on test scores, on creating a culture of excellence…[none] of that has
happened. This goes back to overall leadership and what that includes, what happens at the
district and the school level; there is a disconnect between the district and the schools.”
19
PPSD states that: “PPSD uses a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework to promote a safe, supportive
and positive school climate that helps students develop the skills they need to be successful in school.”
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Collective Bargaining Agreement
There was widespread agreement that the Collective Bargaining Agreement is a problem for schools.
Specifically,
The criterion-based hiring practices prevent stronger schools.
o “Ineffective teachers just get moved to a different building, and the problem follows
them.”
o One member articulated it this way: “This is where macro and micro get confused;
helping schools to improve and move in the right direction includes [the importance
of] hiring and firing. We negotiated with the union about this, and then the union
contract became the driving force behind that policy. So we took what was supposed
to be a robust policy, and then it was backwards-mapped into the contract. Because
of all the additional layers put on, principals’ hands are tied and fewer positions are
available for real criterion-based hiring.”
The CBA prevents meaningful professional development; the “thick contract” causes the
lack of PD.
The Board wishes it could have been involved in the negotiation process.
o “Collective bargaining should be under the review of the School Board,” so we could
“set policy that has teeth.”
o “The Board has a really good relationship with the teachers and the teachers’ union,
and it would have been good for the Board to lead [negotiation.] It could have been
less public. We understand the needs of the teachers in the classroom and could have
anchored the contract in terms of their needs.”
Every single member raised the issue of the $5,000 limit on contracts exempted from review by the
City Council. While we were told that the origins of this requirement went back to corrupt decision-
making in the past, the policy had only one lukewarm defender. One Board member said: “This is just
such an inefficient use of time, and not necessarily for a better result.”
There was unanimous agreement that the school buildings were a massive problem. One member said:
They are crumbling, there’s mold, there’s water coming into the building; I went to
visit [an] elementary school and was walking around the building and there’s paint
peeling. A pipe actually broke while I was there and water came flowing down. Kids
running around calling out about what’s happening, only one maintenance person.
In the basement of the school is just storage, and part of that is these water cannisters
from World War II, just sitting there…it’s just a sinking ship.
It should be noted several Board members expressed the hope that things could get better, on the
condition that trust were rebuilt between entities. One member said, with support from Board colleagues:
The Board member then specified what a restart would actually mean: “Starting over means new
everything: new teachers, new trainings for teachers. Our buildings are terrible, our food is terrible;
we only have one vendor for transportation, one vendor for food – there are a lot of monopolies in
Rhode Island, so we are at the mercy of the vendors.”
The following stakeholders were invited and participated in interviews for this review
Students
School Principals
Superintendent
Business Leaders
Jeremy Crisp – Nail Communications
Christopher Graham – Locke Lord
Lauri Lee – Academy for Career Exploration (ACE)
Art Norwalk – Norwalk Communications, Inc.
Janet Raymond – Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce
John Sinnott – Gilbane, Inc.
Neil Steinberg – Rhode Island Foundation
Vendor Partners
As former Superintendent of the Providence School System, Dr. Lusi summarized her overall view
of the district in the following terms. The situation, she said, “is not our fault but it is our problem
to solve.” She said it was “impossible not to acknowledge that Providence has hard working
conditions for teachers and, combined with low pay, is a poor place for acquiring talented teachers.”
She added:
The workforce in Providence should reflect the community diversity – the story of
Providence is it has failed both the kids and the educators… [There are] insufficient
resources and inattention to diversity inclusion and training. Putting money towards
this kind of training was not priority; school counselors/psychologists were not a
priority….
Time – It takes a very, very long time before you could get anything done. Providence serves
students who need immediate attention… [there are] too many cooks in the kitchen.
RIDE – [Dr. Lusi was] disappointed that top RIDE leadership never fully understood “our
context,” and that there “wasn’t the trust to strategize together.”
City Council – [The] City Council is the main deterrent – structurally, the City Council has
no business making [educational] decisions.
Laws – The laws in Rhode Island around collective bargaining go deeper than in other states
– the contract pushes money to areas outside of high-quality instruction in the classrooms.
(She) never could figure out staffing flexibility for principals… [There was] hardly time to
work with teachers or teachers to work with [other] teachers.
Curriculum – [Dr Lusi believes that] schools should have a high-quality curriculum, but give
schools autonomy to modify it to student needs. [But there was] no ownership from central
office so no buy in from educators.
Question: How did you see your role as Mayor, in relation to the school district, school board, and
legislature?
“Ultimately as the one responsible for schools.” But my main job was “to support the
Superintendent and get out of her way.”
“I didn’t micromanage. I tried to hire excellent team members and let them do their job.”
The Superintendent thanked him for letting her negotiate on the CBA.
“I knew I had no experience and wanted to bring in people who did.”
Question: What were some signature successes during your tenure? The former Mayor cited the
following:
Providence Talks.
Bloomberg Philanthropies and Carnegie funding.
Allowed the superintendent to negotiate the CBA.
15-minute longer school days.
Bringing in Achievement First, and making sure there was a similar demographic to the city
at large.
When asked about past challenges and current barriers to success, the former Mayor spoke on
background only.